


For Better or Worse

by TheHarperGrey



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt, Eventual Smut, F/M, Heavy Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:15:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 54,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29265645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHarperGrey/pseuds/TheHarperGrey
Summary: Regina and David were married during the curse. Now that it's broken, David is torn between his cursed life and reality after Emma and Snow fall through the portal. Regina struggles with redeeming herself for Henry and keeping her very real feelings for David at bay. Arguing and angst galore. Slow burn EC endgame.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Prince Charming | David Nolan
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

"They're headed to Regina's house - they're going to kill her!" Doctor Hopper said between heavy breaths and David hated the way his stomach dropped immediately at the thought of her in danger.

"Lets watch!" Grumpy snorted from behind him and all David could do was stand beside Snow silently while his insides churned.

"No we cannot stoop to her level. No matter who she is or what she's done, killing her is wrong," Dr. Hopper remained the voice of reason as everyone stood in contemplation. David felt like he was being torn apart inside; one half of him hating Regina for everything she'd done and the other half of still seeming to still have feelings for her. He prayed it was remnants of the curse that would soon fade, but right now the thought of Regina being harmed made him see red.

"He's right, Please! She's still my mom," Henry piped up then and David felt an extra stab or pain in his heart. Regina may be a monster but she was the only mother Henry knew and despite her crimes, she had been an excellent one to him. He couldn't in good conscious let something happen go the woman he had shared a life and a child with.

Emma nodded in agreement with a serious look at him and her mother, "We have to stop it."

"If the blue fairy is right, magic is here and Regina may have her powers back. They could be walking into a slaughter," David spoke up quickly in agreement. He saw Snow look at him conspicuously as if she doubted the true reasoning behind him wanting to stop the mob from getting to Regina. He didn't blame her; the curse had only been broken for a moment and he had been married to Regina for years during the curse. Snow gave a nod after a moment and that was all it took for them to take off towards the place he had called home before all of this.

David could barely see Regina as Wale's form cowered over her after backing her up against the column of her house. Emma took command and immediately began pushing her way through the mob and David was immediately grateful. The idea of Regina being in harms way and not knowing how he should respond made him freeze up mentally as they shoved their way past angry townsfolk.

"Why should I listen to you?" Wale snarled back at Emma as he reached for Regina's neck.

"Because I'm still the sheriff!" She yelled and David was right behind her, shoving people back as they moved towards the entry way of what still felt like his home.

"And she saved you! All of you!" David yelled at them, directing his anger and frustration at the crowd. His head spun but he knew he had no time to think about his feelings now, let alone sort them.

"And because no matter what Regina did it does not justify this!" Snow yelled, clutching Henry in her arms protectively.

"We're not murderers here-" Emma said firmly to the doctor. B _ut there was a murderer here - the woman he had called his wife for years._

"Yeah well we're not from this world-" Wale replied smugly and David felt his anger bubbling within him.

"Yeah well you're in it now-" David heard Emma say before he snapped and stepped in front of Emma, shoving Wale to the side.

"Okay Wale, were done-" He grit out, stepping between the man and Regina. He didn't catch the expression on her face or the way her eyes shifted in surprised irritation at his defense of her after the tumultuous last few weeks.

"Back off, you're not my prince-" The man spit back at him and David wanted to snap his neck.

"Who are you?" David glared at him.

"That's my business," He smiled ruefully in return.

"Well my business is making sure this town doesn't go to hell so whether or not I'm your prince isn't the issue. We have a lot to figure out and this isn't the way to do it," David clenched his fist as his voice grew louder before Snow stepped in.

"And Regina's death wont provide any answers. She needs to be locked up for her safety and more importantly for ours."

* * *

_"So I'm a prisoner now?" Regina smiled mirthlessly at the man who she had just called her husband as the door to her cell slammed shut. He stepped up to the bars and looked at her directly, causing her stomach to flip even though she refused to show it. She tried to mask her hurt and looked back at him with an attempt at a neutral expression._

_"If the curse is broken why can't we go back?" He insisted and she wanted to scream. She knew it was only logical after everything that his concern would be returning with Snow to the Enchanted Forest but it still hurt that he could be done with her so easily._

_"Because there's nothing to go back to-that land is gone," She said and her voice was weak as the lump grew in her throat. Snow stepped up beside of him and said something about going to Gold but Regina was in too much pain watching David respond to his real wife that she barely heard it._

She wasn't supposed to fall for him and she hated herself for it. She let herself get too comfortable. She let herself believe it was real and she had enjoyed having a companion. He had wormed his way past the façade she created with the curse and their marriage had turned into something real. At least it was for her. She knew anything he felt was because of the curse and his one true love was really Snow White. He didn't reciprocate any real feelings for her and she was a fool to have ever believed he would.

Still, to see him so callous, to see the look of hatred in his eyes when he spoke to her - it made her feel sick. The overwhelming wave of self loathing threatened to drown her as her past sins came bursting out of the closet and were thrown in her face. Everything she had created had crumbled the moment Emma Swan kissed her sons forehead and broke the curse. The only people she loved looked at her like she was a monster now and the worst part was that she knew she deserved it. She had done this to herself.

Regina sat down on the cot in her cell, rubbing her thumb over the wraith mark scorched into her hand by Rumple. In a matter of hours or maybe even minutes, the wraith would find her and take her soul. There was nothing she could do and no way to escape it without her magic.

Even if she did, what was she escaping for? The town would likely end up executing her or locking her up for the rest of the life and she didn't know which would be worse. Having to see David and Emma at the sheriff station each day as she rotted in a cell or dying at the hands of people who hated her. At least this way the wraith was a third party and no one won in the end. The town didn't get to kill her and she didn't have to put up with the morally superior hypocrites anymore.

Henry would be better off with his real family. She loved him more than anything but she had caused him more pain and trauma with all of this than any good mother ever would. _She had turned into Cora._

He had already insisted on being with the Charmings ever since Emma came to town, having known the storybook was true since Snow gave it to him. Regina had made him feel crazy for believing it and that she was ashamed of more than anything.

David would make sure her baby boy was taken care of. They had been father and son since Henry was adopted, after all. The four of the Charmings would be a happy family and would put this all behind them as soon as she was gone. She wouldn't be missed and she'd be erased from their memories as quickly as a bad dream.

She looked up from her hand suddenly when the lights began to flicker and her heart nearly stopped when a black figure swooped in from the ceiling. She stood up and stepped back, jumping when the jail cell door was torn off violently by the wraith. It zoned in on her and she swallowed hard in fear when it held up its bony hand, instantly feeling the pull of its dark energy.

Soon her head was thrown back and her body went stiff from the force of her life being pulled from her. The sucking became more violent and soon took her ability to even scream, only seeing the light of her soul and energy being drawn out in a rapid stream. _This was it._

"Hey!" She thought she heard a familiar voice but was too light headed and in pain to know if it was real. Suddenly the wraith screeched and spun around when a metal chair hit it and bounced off of its form. Her eyes widened when the beast turned and she could see David behind it. He didn't stand a chance against the evil strength of the creature and soon went flying across the room and into the desk so hard she was sure he'd broken something.

"David!" She called out in fear but before she could go for him the wraith had his hand up again, intent on finishing its job. She wasn't sure what happened after that but she saw a flame shoot through in the air in her peripheral vision and the wraith took off through the window, causing her to collapse in a weak pile on the floor of her cell.

Regina gasped for her breath, feeling as if the air had been knocked out of her as she tried to lift her front off of the cold tile. She felt strong hands grip her upper arms, tilting her up into a sitting position. Her head was dizzy but she knew exactly who held her when he scooped her up and sat her down gently on the cot.

"Regina?" He stood on his knees in front of her, holding her head between his two hands gently, "Regina? Focus, it's okay - you're safe."

Her eyes finally focused in on him and she swallowed at the knot in his throat, the feeling of him being so close instantly making her emotional. For a moment it was only the two of them in the room. It was a husband concerned for the safety of his wife. It was a wife who desperately wanted comfort from the man she loved.

"What was that thing?" Emma broke the silence, causing David to seemingly remember their current situation and he withdrew his hands quickly. Regina bit down on her bottom lip to suppress her heartache when he stood and stepped back to stand beside Snow who only glared at her now. He awkwardly stuck his hands behind his back and looked over at his daughter while avoiding Reginas gaze like nothing had happened. She saw his jaw tense as if his mood shifted instantly and she recognized that he was angry with himself for forgetting and being soft with her.

"It was a wraith," She grit out, still trying to steady her breathing. "A soul sucker."

"Did I kill it?" Mary Margaret raised an eyebrow and Regina wanted to twist her neck like a twig for even speaking.

"You didn't kill it. It's regenerating and it will be back. It won't stop until it devours it's prey," She gave a bitter smile as she delivered the news they likely wanted to hear and held up her hand with glossy eyes, "Me."

"So how do we kill it?" Emma insisted with a frown.

"You can't kill something that's already dead." She muttered and stared down at her hand, rubbing the burn mark on it that continued to sting in pain.

"Then we have a problem-" Emma began.

"No we don't, Regina does," The voice that spoke the words nearly made her want to throw up.

"You want to let her die?" Emma frowned at him and Regina felt herself getting light headed waiting for his answer. She was stupid. So stupid for ever letting herself love again.

"I don't know!" He yelled, his anger bubbling over suddenly, "If she goes away then we're safe, right?"

Regina felt her own hurt and anger coming to a head, standing up from her cot quickly, "That's quite an example you're setting for your son and your daughter there isn't it?" She snarled, tears glistening in her eyes. If she didn't scream at him she was going to cry in front of them and that was something she refused to do.

"You don't get to judge me!" He bellowed and closed the distance between them with a couple strides, hand pointed at her, "Not after what you've done!"

"Oh because you had it so rough during the curse didn't you?!" Regina laughed bitterly with glittering eyes, "Living in the biggest home in town, having meals prepared for you, not having to do anything that you didn't want to do! Having everyone in this town love you! Your daughter grew up in the foster system bouncing from home to home after you gave her away and you have the audacity to complain about how YOU'VE had it during the curse?!"

"You really think that I enjoyed any part of being married to you during this curse?! It was all fake Regina. You know if I had any idea I was sleeping with the enemy that I would've been disgusted - I never would've come near you!" He yelled back at her, his face turning red with anger.

"Well you sure weren't complaining during your marital duties now were you David?" She smirked up at him, goading him from her place of hurt. If she didn't taunt him she was going to let out a sob of pain and she'd rather call the wraith back to kill her first.

"Enough!" Snow yelled firmly, causing them both to snap out of it and look to her. Regina realized again there were others in the room, seeing Emma's look of sheer shock and Snows irritated expression.

"Look you two need to stop this-" Emma looked between David and Regina, "We made a promise to Henry that Regina stays alive and that's what we're going to do. So if you two can be adults for five minutes, we need to come up with a plan."

"If it can't be killed then what are we supposed to do?" Snow frowned and let out a breath, bringing them all back to the topic at hand.

All of them looked to Regina and she frowned, knowing they were waiting for answers from her. Wasn't it ironic that the people who were going to claim to be heroes for saving the Evil Queen were asking her how to do it? She sighed and shook her head slowly, mulling over what Emma said just a moment ago, "Did Henry really ask you to protect me?"

Emma nodded without hesitation and Regina knew instantly that she had to stay alive for her son. If he cared for her at all she would not make him go through losing her, "We have to send it somewhere else."

* * *

"Where are they?" David screamed as he stood slowly, a renewed look of hatred in his fiercely blue eyes as he started towards her. The portal had closed and the wraith was gone along with Emma and Snow, leaving just the of them in the room.

"I have no idea," She began to panic for multiple reasons, taking a step back at the rage she'd never witnessed in him before.

David stepped towards her quickly, his frame towering over her. Part of her wanted to be defiant and not show any fear but he was angry and so much bigger than her that she stepped back just as swiftly as he came forward.

"Are they dead?" He demanded, breathing heavily in anger.

"The curse destroyed everything-" She replied before she was cut off.

His eyes glistened and he screamed in her face this time, "Are they dead?!"

"I don't know!" She yelled back, her temper glaring from hurt at the way he looked and screamed at her. It was such a contrast to how gentle he used to be.

"I should've killed you when I had the chance-" He glowered and his words felt like a punch to the gut, twisting her insides and bringing tears to her eyes.

His rage seemed to overcome him and he stepped forward, hands coming up to her arms and slamming her back against the wall. Her back hit the wall with a thud that made her angrier but satisfied her in a sick way. She could use her magic to defend herself but no matter his actions she still couldn't bring herself to hurt him. No, she wouldn't hurt him but she could goad him, at least - give him permission to lash out at her the way he wanted to.

All traces of the David she knew seemed to vanish and he shook her by her shoulders roughly, "You're going to get them back! Do you hear me?! Look what you did to us!"

"I don't know where they are!" She yelled back at him, her eyes widening at how his anger spiraled out of control. One of his hands came up to grip her neck tightly and she gasped audibly when the back of her head hit the wall.

"What are you doing to me?!" He screamed in her face so loudly his voice went hoarse half of the way through.

She held off as long as she could, steeling her expression and defiantly refusing to show any emotion. It was okay for him to be angry and he had every right to be. She deserved his rage and his punishment but she refused to give him the satisfaction of letting him know he actually scared her.

"What's wrong with you?!" Tears were in his eyes now and she felt his grip tighten though she didn't even know if he made the decision consciously or if it was a side effect of the anger.

Regina's façade began to crumble and fear crept up within her as breathing became harder with his grip of her neck. Soon she felt it cut off completely and she began to panic, "David-" She whimpered suddenly.

"David, please-" She said a little louder, her tone pleading and fearful. His eyes shifted instantly when she spoke up, "You're hurting me-" She whispered and his eyes widened in realization, his hand dropping quickly.

He almost stumbled back from her, looking down at his hands before back up at her in a daze. He seemed to be processing what he had been doing and for a moment before he let go he was looking at her like he used to. Like he loved her and couldn't imagine hurting her. Like she was his wife again.

David shook his head and her heart sank for him when he fell down on his knees and then back on his haunches, running his hands over his hair and to his face as he broke down. She wanted to go to him, to comfort him. But she was the cause of his pain. She was the reason the man she loved was in the floor, breaking down from heartache. "What have you done to me?" He mumbled again, face covered by his hands.

_What had she done?_


	2. Chapter 2

David walked into the main part of Snow's loft, spotting his grandson sitting at the counter, staring at a photo of Emma and his wife. He bit down on his bottom lip in hesitation of what to say or how to act now that he was technically no longer the boy's father. It was a strange feeling that tore at his heart and made him even angrier at Regina for how twisted she had made everything. He felt like Henry's father, _hell_ , he was the only one the kid had ever known. _Did he continue to act the same? Did Henry feel differently about him now?_

He shook his head at his own insecurities as he set his gun belt down on the counter and decided to approach the subject, "Henry, don't worry...Emma and Mary Margaret are alive."

"How do you know?" The boy seemed so small as he sat with his arms crossed and slouched over the counter, his body language nothing but shear defeat. He had walked into the Town Hall after his and Regina's argument and while David had pulled himself together quickly, he knew the boy could still tell he had been upset. He hated that he had let him see him that way, always wanting to be strong for him, especially at a time like this.

"Because I have faith," He said seriously, coming over to crouch down to Henry's level and running his hands up his arms comfortingly as he'd done so many times before, "I will find them. I will always find them," He looked at him for a long moment and hoped that he sounded more convincing than he felt.

"So are you..." Henry hesitated for a moment before looking at him directly, "Are you and Mary Margaret together now or are you still married to my mom...?"

David's lips pressed into a line as he tried to determine how to respond. He hadn't even had time to consider it or even have a private conversation with Snow about what had happened during the curse. His familiar way of life and feelings from the curse still lingered inside of him and he hadn't had a moment to even think about what was real and what wasn't. Logically and morally he knew he should be with Snow, but how did that work when he'd just spent the last how many years living, loving and raising a child with their enemy?

"It's complicated, Henry..." He frowned hesitantly, "Snow is my one true love, so no...your mom and I aren't together anymore. Our marriage was part of the curse and it wasn't real."

Henry nodded slowly and he could tell the boy was struggling to process the new dynamic, "Okay..."

"How does that make you feel?" David took a breath, bracing himself.

"It's..it's the right thing to do. You and Snow are meant to be together and my mom - er, Regina - she's the Evil Queen. She tried to tear our family apart and she cursed all of us," Henry said and while there was conviction in his voice, David could also see the little part of his son that loved Regina deep down in the boy's eyes. No matter how messed up or on what grounds it started, they had been a family and what Henry was going through was like his parents divorcing but even more complicated.

"Once we get Mary Margaret and Emma back then things will work out like they should," He says seriously, running a hand over his hair as he straightened up. "Why don't you go get a bath before bed, ok?"

He watched Henry contemplate whether or not to believe him as he hopped down from his stool and he couldn't blame the boy. In less than a year, life as Henry had known it was flipped upside down. At first David hadn't known why Regina became so erratic about their son having notions in his head about fairy-tale characters. Every kid went through phases of not liking their parents and likening them to fictional characters seemed like something a child would do.

David shook his head and made his way over to grab a beer from the fridge once Henry had disappeared into the bathroom, sitting down at the counter himself. He frowned irritably as the sequence of the curse unraveling played back in his mind like a broken movie reel. He had been so foolish, believing the best of her always and Regina hadn't even respected him enough to tell him the truth before it all came out.

When Henry brought Emma to town and they found out she was Henry's birth mom, Regina had held it together while warning the blonde away. He had watched his wife give a cool welcome to the woman with a glass of apple cider before kindly telling her to back off. David had been worried of course about their son's biological mother being in the picture but he knew it wasn't even half of the panic Regina felt. She was his mother and she loved him fiercely, her life was dedicated to the boy, and he knew that the threat of his birth mother taking her place was too much for her.

He downed some of his beer in frustration as he remembered the way he held her that night after tucking Henry in. The boy had been bratty with her after she had warned Emma away, refusing to talk to Regina or let her put him to bed. David had done so and came back to their room to find her crying. She never cried openly, only in the privacy of her room when it was dark and he was the only one allowed in her company when it happened. He held her all night, wiping her tears and kissing her forehead. He reassured her that she was Henry's mother and no one could replace her.

David scoffed and shook his head in disgust at what a fool he had been, playing into her charade like the puppet he was. Were those even real emotions or was she putting on a show so that he'd be blinded from any suspicion? He hadn't believed any of the storybook nonsense and he had never doubted Regina when her curse began to unravel. It wasn't until the battle for Henry began between Emma and Regina that he started to think there was more to this than what his wife had told him.

Regina had grown increasingly anxious and tense, but unlike before she wouldn't speak to him about what she was thinking. She worked around the clock to find ways to get rid of Emma so that their lives could go back to normal. She had far less patience with their son than ever before and their entire family dynamic was tense because of it. Emma had even planned to leave town but that wasn't enough for Regina, she was still threatened that she would come back for him at any point. He later found out that his wife had gone so far as to poison the woman he now knew was his daughter, which resulted in Henry's near death.

Anger burned inside of him over the betrayal by the brunette he once thought he'd never be able to live without. How could she put their son in danger? How could she of even done any of this to him? To think that her need for vengeance on a young girl had gone so far that she had created an entire curse, had forced them to part with their daughter and had manipulated him into her own husband. The worst part was that she had pretended to be so happy with him. She had pretended to truly love him and it was what sickened him the most. None of it had been real - their marriage, the memories they created, raising a son together. It had all just been a sick and twisted part of her end game.

* * *

Regina sat in the den of her mansion, thumbing through the photo album that usually rested on the coffee table. It was the first time she had looked at it in months, for the people on the pages were typically under this roof for her to see and touch and love. She smiled weakly at the picture of the three of them last Christmas, before Snow had given Henry the book and her world came crashing down around her. She had been more happy and content than ever before in her life, even if it had been a lie.

She had barely slept since Mary Margaret and Emma disappeared and David had broken down in front of her in the town hall. Henry and Red came in shortly after and her son had rejected her once he found out what happened. She'd never seen David look at her with such malevolence or speak so firmly than when he said that Henry would go home with him, and she hadn't seen them since. The house was so quiet she heard every creak of loneliness and it did not help her paranoia that people would be coming after her now.

The most sickening part of it was that despite everything that had happened, the only person she wanted comfort from was probably the one who hated her most. She had gotten too used to being able to crawl into David's arms at the end of the night that she didn't know how to console herself anymore. He had been the only one she'd allowed to see the softer side of her since Daniel - the only one who she let see her weakness. He had a way of saying the right things and holding her so tightly that she felt safe in a way she never had before.

But now that was lost to her forever. She knew for certain that she would never feel that strongly for someone again. Despite the circumstances in which it began, her love for David was so real that her chest physically ached at the thought of never being intimate with him again. Not just sexual intimacy, but merely having a confidant and a best friend. He was the first person she told good news to, the only person she cried over bad news to, and her partner in everything. She had let him be her husband in every sense of the word and the pain she felt at the disintegration of her marriage and family was more crushing than anything she had felt before.

She couldn't shake the image of him in the hospital room beside of her when Emma kissed Henry's head and the rainbow of light swept the town, breaking the curse. The way he looked at her changed instantly. His expression was of shock and then hurt and then anger. His blue eyes turned cold as they gazed at her, just like they had been before the curse when he was still Prince Charming. The hospital room had remained silent while everyone processed Henry being revived by Emma's kiss but Regina's head spun and her stomach churned. She had looked back and forth between David and Henry for a few moments as the reality set in that her baby boy would live but she had to flee. The look on David's face told her that he was already lost to her so she wasted no time and ran to Henry, reassuring him that no matter what she loved him. _And then she ran._

On top of the soul-crushing pain, she was _angry_. Angry at Snow for telling her secret. Angry at her mother for killing Daniel. Angry at the King for taking her innocence and holding her captive. Angry at Rumple for manipulating her for his own purpose. Angry that she had failed yet again at avenging Daniel's death. Angry that she had let herself get too comfortable during the curse and that she let Emma stay long enough to break it. Angry at David for walking away so easily. Angry at her heart for expecting him to do anything different.

Loud pounding on the door made her jump and sent a rush of adrenaline through her, intensifying her already jumpy disposition. Her heart thumped wildly when the knocking didn't stop and she sat the photo album down on the couch before getting up to walk to the foyer. She ran her hands over her pants suit to smooth out the wrinkles and took a deep breath before opening the door to find the man whose comfort she had been craving.

He looked at her in contempt before pushing past her abruptly, carrying the stupid Mad Hatter's hat in his hand as he stormed through their foyer. She turned and watched him as she shut the door, a mixture of hurt and anger flowing through her veins as she glared at his cockiness. He had all but told her he hated her yet he arrogantly claimed the right to invade her home as if he thought it was still his.

"Tell me about this-" He held up the hat after taking a few steps up into the house, looking down at her with a glare.

"I'm surprised you don't have armed guards around the clock," She gave a fake smile, not helping but to goad him to hide her emotions. If she didn't channel her Evil Queen persona to deal with him then she was going to break down and that was not an option.

"Don't need 'em," He gave her a fake smile and spun the hat in his hand, "We both know if you leave this house that there is a line a mile long for your head.."

The casual way he talked about her death felt like a knife twisting in her gut. _How was that the same man who she shared a life with? Who comforted her? Who talked to her? Who made love to her?_ She grit her teeth and slammed the door, "Who is going to risk coming at me?" She asked defiantly and stepped toward him.

"Take your chances then, but I think that if you had your magic back by now this whole town would be charcoal," He looked at her knowingly and for the first time she recognized that he still knew her. He may look at her like she's a monster now but years of being married to someone doesn't go away. He still knew how to read her - he knew when she was bluffing and when she was anxious and everything in between. "The only thing keeping you alive is that Henry wishes it. Now, back to the hat."

She swallowed hard and steeled her emotions at the venom dripping from his tone and expression. The realization hit her that he truly would not care if she died. He would let the town rip her apart if Henry would allow it. The man she had let into her mind, body and soul more intimately than anyone in her entire life would relish in her death if it were to happen. Hurt hit her like an icy dagger to the heart, the pressure building in her chest and throat becoming too unbearable.

Regina walked past him silently, needing to be in a room without him in it so that she could catch her breath and refrain from bursting into tears. She heard his footsteps behind her - a sound that used to bring her comfort or even excitement at the anticipation of an embrace or a kiss. Now it only brought dread to the pit of her stomach but she turned around to face him all the same, refusing to tuck her tail in front of him.

"You know what? Maybe you should be worried less about this stupid hat and worry more about taking care of our son," She glared at him, rounding the dining table just slightly to put some distance between them. He had her hurt and angry and anxious and she needed space so that she could pull herself together.

"You mean my grandson?" David asked sarcastically with a raise of his brow, "The boy you manipulated into thinking he was yours and then made him feel crazy when he started catching onto the truth. Take care of him like that, you mean?"

"I'm sorry but I'm not going to take a lecture from the man who put his daughter and shipped her to Maine," She grit out angrily and stepped to the side, attempting to get around him. His large frame stepped with her, effectively blocking her from evading him at all.

"Ok listen," He looked at her intently and acted as if he were going to touch her shoulders but withdrew his hands quickly, "I need my family and there's clearly magic back in this town. There has to be a way that I can get to them-"

Regina recoiled at the way he called Snow and Emma his family even though she knew her reaction was ridiculous. _They were his family and she was not._ "Follow them where? Into a void? Good luck getting magic to work, David. Because as you said, you'd be charcoal," She glared up at him and he merely smirked back, causing hot anger to sliver up her spine.

"Frustrated are we?" He taunted her now and she felt like she was going to explode. If he had any idea the amount of anguish she was in he would know she was suffering sufficiently and that his antagonizing was not needed. "Serves you right. You deserve every bit of this, Regina. You pulled Snow and I apart. You separated us from our daughter. You destroyed our family. You kept me prisoner in this sham of a marriage for years and for what? All of this was for nothing because I am going to get my family back and you will be alone!"

She stared up at him in shock as her heart beat in her ears and a knot in the her throat too large to swallow. The viciousness of his words and the way he glowered at her now might almost be mistaken for confusion and heartbreak if she weren't aware of just how much he hated her. Her fists clenched, hoping to draw emotional strength from her physical stature before she spoke, "Keep baiting me, Charming. I don't have Henry and I don't have my magic but when I get one, I get the other. You don't want to be around when that happens."

He looked at her with disgust and she only realized then that they were merely inches apart. The only other time she'd seen his eyes this fiercely blue was during intense sex they'd have more often than any _real_ married couple would. She found her gaze fall down to his lips before he began speaking again, "It makes sense now. All of those stories you used to tell me about how controlling your mother was and how she'd manipulate you to keep you in place. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it Regina? If you have to use magic to keep Henry then you don't really have him."

The comparison to Cora felt like a punch to the gut and she snapped, her hands coming up as she shoved him and cried out, "Get out!" She screamed and his large frame barely budged, "I said get out of my house, David!"

"I thought this was our house!" He taunted and she could see the way his jaw clenched in anger. He was baiting her but she didn't know why. _Hadn't he said enough? Was she not miserable enough for his liking?_

"I said leave!" She yelled as loudly and firmly as she could but her voice broke on her and her body began to betray her. Her hands were shaking now and she shoved him again in an attempt to keep him from noticing. A tear escaped her eye and ran down her cheek, making her angrier at the fact she was losing control of her emotions. Being vulnerable in front of him now was more humiliating than anything so far and he seemed to know it as he remained standing in front of her.

"You did this," He grit out and his own voice seemed gravelly as he watched her begin to crumble. Her eyes were glossy and her vision became blurry but she could still see that there was no smugness in his expression now, just his own anger and what might be mistaken as hurt. "You did this," He frowned deeply again and quickly shook his head and she swore that she heard his voice crack slightly. Her own tears were coming freely and her shoulders began to shake as she watched him turn and storm for the door. She held her breath to contain a sob until she heard him slam the front door and then crumpled to the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

Regina tried to swallow the knot forming in her throat as she stared blankly at her mother's magic book. She had blackmailed Rumple for it by threatening to tell everyone the Enchanted Forest still existed. Her own attempts to get her magic working again had failed and Cora's magical heirloom was her last hope.

Just holding the spell book made memories of her youth flood her mind - memories she'd been able to suppress by just how content she had been during the curse. Now there was nothing to prevent her past from coming back to haunt her. Especially now that her present was becoming just as unbearable.

Regina clenched her jaw at the tears that threatened to spill in an attempt to control her emotions, though it barely helped. She let out a breath of defeat and leaned back against the bench below her apple tree. It had been a risk to leave her house at all to go to Rumple's shop. Anyone could've seen her and without her magic she wouldn't of been able to defend herself had someone been out for her blood. Luckily she had only seen the harmless Grasshopper who claimed he wanted to help her sort her sins and find out who she was.

A scoff escaped her at the thought as she stared at the jewel encrusted book in her hands, marveling at just how ironic it was that someone like Hopper thought he could help her. She had told him she knew exactly who she was and thanks to the events of late, everyone knew who she was. There wasn't any risk of her forgetting the things she had done, either. There were hundreds of people here to remind her with every comment and sideways glance and ill wish. Nearly every face she saw brought back a memory of something horrid she did to them or someone they loved during her reign.

Never did she think back then that she would someday regret her actions. She had been so consumed with pain and anger that she never thought she'd have the capability to love. No one could've convinced her that someday she would have people in her life that she cared for enough not to want to disappoint. She had written herself off the day she took her father's heart to enact her curse. She thought she would have no one to truly care for her again and didn't deserve to.

But years passed after she cast the curse and her heart began to slowly warm to the idiot shepherd. Snow had taken her love from her so Regina decided that making David hers during the curse was only appropriate. He had been an absolute moron in her eyes and someone she'd never run the risk of actually caring for. She would live satisfied knowing that her doting husband was Snow White's true love and she would keep them apart forever.

Regina hadn't expected to ever find the oaf's goodness or earnest nature endearing. She never in a million years would've thought she'd laugh at his jokes or truly find him funny. She hated affection so she ran no risk of being influenced by his warmth or touchy-feely behavior. She was sure he'd be vanilla and lackluster in the bedroom, so there would be no pesky sexual chemistry tempting her either.

She almost laughed out loud at how wrong she'd been. At first the newness helped her keep her distance. When she woke up the first morning in the home she'd created with her strapping blonde husband asleep beside of her, she'd felt nothing but victorious. Discovering everything she had plotted for years had fallen into place was enough to keep her content for a while.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and soon she'd fallen into a daily routine with her sheriff husband in their picturesque home. The simple act of cohabitating with someone slowly began to open her eyes to just how lonely of an existence she was used to leading. David would make her a cup of coffee in the mornings, would show up at her office with lunch or bring her home flowers. He'd draw her a bath or make sure her side of the bed was pulled down for her before she came out of the bathroom. It was the tiniest things that made her realize he was thinking of her and just how long it had been since anyone truly had.

To say it had been pleasant was an understatement. Having someone to share her life with was such a foreign concept that she did not know what to do with the thoughtfulness and affection David confronted her with on a daily basis. Her first instinct was to reject it but in this reality they had been married and it would not make sense to treat him with contempt. Pushing him away into marital discord would show outwardly and there was no way in hell she'd let Mary Margaret think there was trouble between them. The way Snow drooled over Charming even during a curse was sickening but it gave Regina satisfaction to see the look on her face when they ran into her.

Despite her plan she had given into David's nature and allowed herself to be on the receiving end of it. It had been a slippery slope after that and soon she found herself actually looking forward to spending time with him. Wednesdays had been her busiest days with town hall meetings and he had insisted that they always go to Granny's after for dinner where he would convince her to get something entirely unhealthy. Saturday nights were date nights and he'd somehow come up with something different and fun for them to do every weekend. Sunday mornings were almost always spent in bed cuddling which led to playful romps and more intimate sex once she'd opened up to it.

It was jarring to realize that the man who was merely a pawn in her curse was making her genuinely happy. Everything had evolved so quickly that she could barely pinpoint when it had stopped being a cursed reality and became real for her. Somehow she had let herself forget that it was all fake and began actually living again. For the first time in her entire life she had a partner - someone of her own that she cared for and who reciprocated those feelings. She got to experience life with someone who was alive and well, not just a memory.

No one had looked at her the way David did except for Daniel. No one had ever been as truly interested in what she had to say or how she was feeling. No one had ever touched her so affectionately or known her body as intimately. The pull to love him was more intoxicating than the attraction of dark magic and she was helpless in stopping it from happening. Soon she found herself returning the acts of thoughtfulness and treating the marriage as genuinely as he did. She hadn't felt so content and carefree since her stable-boy was alive.

Regina shook her head and swiped at the tears on her face with the back of her hand, straightening up in her seat and looking at her mother's book with a renewed focus. There was no time for her to sit and blubber over Prince Charming. Her goal now was to get her son back and she had to stop letting herself get side tracked with feelings. Rumple's comparison of her to her mother when she left his shop had been twisting in her gut. The pesky conscious she'd grown while being happy and loved during the curse screamed at her actions now. She was no better than Cora if she was going to force Henry to come back to her, but what other choice did she have?

She flipped open the spell-book, thumbing through it until she saw the one she searched for. Taking a deep breath she ran her fingers over the spell, closing her eyes briefly as she recited silently. The words turned into a small cloud over the page, swirling in front of her until she leaned in and inhaled. There was no going back now. If she was going to protect her son and herself, she needed magic. She felt the electricity sweep through her body, purple clouding her vision for a split second when she opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Her power was back.

* * *

"Can you get me through? Can you get them back? Does your hat still work?" David bombarded the Mad Hatter, leaning onto the table between them. He'd spent the morning striking a deal with Gold to get a potion that would allow him to track the Mad Hatter and try to find a portal. A portal to where, he wasn't sure - but it was one step closer to finding Snow and Emma.

The Mad Hatter merely laughed and shook his head, running a hand over his face, "It isn't that simple, if you only knew.."

"Look, I saw the stuffed rabbit and tea set in your car which means you probably have a daughter that you love," David grit out, staring him down in determination, "And I do too, and a wife, and they're out there. In the Enchanted Forest or worse, I don't know. But I have to get them back."

"They're in the Enchanted Forest, I can tell you that," The man nodded, "I just can't get us there."

Regina flashed into David's vision, anger stirring in his gut at the knowledge she'd manipulated him yet again. She had bold faced lied to him about the Enchanted Forest no longer existing so that the threat of Emma and Snow would be gone forever. "It exists?" He muttered bitterly.

"It exists, I don't know if that matters because like I said we can't get there," Jefferson shook his head, "I'm a portal jumper and you destroyed my portal, so you're out of luck," He motioned to the hat between them.

"Well I'm the closest thing left to a sheriff here so maybe I'll just lock you up until you think of a way," He glares, reaching out to snatch the mans scarf and jerk him more upright.

"Then all we'll do is both sit...stuck in this town. Two lives in our heads, forever at odds and double the pain and suffering. You'll constantly be torn between two women and families that both felt real-" David's heart beat in his ears as Jefferson stared him down knowingly, like he could see the way his heart was being torn in two different directions. One part of him knowing he had to go back to life with Snow and the other part of him still being attached to life with Henry and Regina.

The Mad Hatter took advantage of David's distraction, upending the table and taking off in a sprint down the street. David jumped up so quickly that his chair tipped over, taking off around the corner after the man.

"Out of my way!" He yelled at Ruby when she came into his vision, blocking him with a grab of his shirt.

"David stop! Regina has Henry-" Ruby said but his mind reeled, not processing the situation.

"But he had a portal, he has the way to them!" He yelled after Jefferson, trying to push past her.

Ruby gripped his shirt harder, making him look at her, "Regina has Henry, she's threatening everyone. She showed up at your town meeting that you missed. Her magic is back. Everyone is panicking, they want to leave town. David you're the only one besides Henry that's been close to her in years you need to talk to her-"

"Okay, okay but I have to go after him first. He's my only chance at getting Emma and Snow back!" David frowned and attempted to push past her again.

"Back to what?! This town is about to fall apart. You've gotta do something! David it's your grandson!"

David felt like his chest was going to explode any moment now. How was he supposed to lead the town to safety? How was he supposed to figure out any of this? His entire world had been ripped out from under him and everything he thought he knew for certain before the curse no longer seemed true. He was living in an alternate reality and the war between his head and his heart made things too loud to even process external issues. People were looking to him for guidance when he desperately needed some himself.

* * *

"I don't want to be you-" Henry looked at her seriously before getting up from his bed and leaving the room. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her and she doubled over slightly, putting a hand where he just sat to catch her balance. When she looked into her son's eyes she had seen herself at his age. She recognized the fear and the entrapment that he felt. She had felt the same hopelessness every day while under the care of her mother.

She had been so determined to change things and take back her control when she had stormed into the Town Hall, tossing people around and hurling fire over their heads. The only thing people respected was fear and now that she had her magic back she could show them what fools they had been. She would get her son back and no one could stop her, and they could try to get things back to normal. It had all seemed so simple before when she was blinded by anger and the infectious power ripping through her veins.

Things were not the same as they had been back in the Enchanted Forest, before the curse when she dealt with things this exact way. As Evil Queen she would act out in anger and bully her way into getting what she wanted, without regard for anyone else's feelings. But now...now she had lived for years feeling happy and loved and it had allowed her conscious to resurface. She had become softer over the years, good thoughts overpowering the negative. Her heart slowly grew lighter and she began to feel empathy and consideration for others again. Especially those she cared for.

Her chest ached with guilt and sadness that she had once again been the bully. One who would hurt her own son to selfishly keep him... the Evil Queen. She had imprisoned him in the way she had been for years and by multiple people. Her magic trick with the cupcake was even a failed attempt at manipulation, another trait from Cora that she had cultivated during her dark reign.

Before she adopted Henry she had longed for a child. All she wanted was to have a family with Daniel and now that she had found herself happy again with David the yearning came back. When she finally held her son for the first time at the adoption agency she vowed to keep him safe and happy and to never become her mother. Now she had failed him. She became her mother and then surpassed her, turning into an unbridled evil being that committed unspeakable acts. Now she was the monster and she had no one to blame but herself for turning into what she said she'd never be...

_"Hey, hey-" David's voice caught her off guard as she swept the bottle of hormones and needles and pregnancy tests into the bathroom trash can before sitting it back down on the floor. "What are you doing? You know Doctor Whale said it could take years of trying, we have to be patient-" He met her in the doorway, keeping her from going past him and out of their bedroom._

_Regina swallowed hard and wiped the evidence of her breakdown from her face quickly, "It's almost been a year, it's not going to work and I cant take-" She choked down the knot in her throat that formed from stifling a sob, "-can't take the disappointment every time I think it might of happened and then I get a negative test."_

_She had no one to blame but herself. The potion she took before the curse had poisoned her body and turned her barren for good. Her feelings and life became so real for her in the curse that she allowed herself to hope that things would be different in this land - that the curse on her womb might of been taken away when they changed realms. It wasn't the case and she hated herself for it._

_David looked at her with empathy filled eyes, stepping up to her and cupping the side of her face, "I don't want you to give up on being mother, Regina. I know how much you want it."_

_"How much we want it-" Her voice wobbled and she shifted her gaze down as a tear rolled down her cheek. She had allowed herself to fall head over heels for the man she'd cursed into being her husband. "You deserve the chance to be a father, I feel like I'm holding you back-"_

_Her stomach soured at the way she stood before him, knowing she had done this to them and letting him comfort her over it still. She felt guity every day since she'd fallen in love with him. Guilty for forcing him into this, guilty for not being able to at least give him a family, guilty for being so happy and content when he knew nothing._

_"Regina, since the beginning when you told me you may have trouble conceiving, what did I tell you?" He rubbed his thumb over the apple of her cheek, locking gazes with her, "You're enough for me, if kids don't happen I'll still love you. I'm happy with it just being us, a baby would simply be a bonus..."_

_"How can I be enough?" She asked, her voice cracking midway through the sentence and turning it into a whisper. Her eyes shifted down, letting another tear drop from her dark lashes._

_No one had ever considered her to be enough. Not since Daniel. Anyone that had gotten close to her since then had an ulterior motive to use her for what they wanted or to harm her in some way. It had been so long since someone had truly made an effort to see or know just Regina - to accept her in her truest form. Her life had been so lonely before the curse that she'd slowly let herself welcome how loved and accepted David made her feel. Sometimes enough to forget that it was all manufactured by her curse._

_David saw that streak of self loathing bubble up within her, a side effect of growing up under her abusive mother's hand. She'd told him small glimpses into her childhood and teen years but he hadn't met her until much past that. He knew that she had escaped her mother the very moment she could and hadn't looked back. But her scars from her upbringing came to the surface at times and he was the only one who she'd let see her like this - puffy eyed and vulnerable._

_"You will always be enough for me," David murmured, taking a few steps back into their bedroom to sit on the edge of the bed. He pulled her by her hand with him, running his hands up around her waist and bring her into his lap. She curled up, drawling her legs up and resting her head in the crook of his neck as his arms came around her protectively. "And if I seem disappointed it's merely because I'm sad for you, I know how much you want this and I want you to have it. You've worked so hard to overcome your fears of becoming like your mother and accepting the fact that you want to start a family. I can't see you give up on it now."_

_"I don't deserve you," She muttered, letting her eyes close as she inhaled his scent and let him hold her. There had never been a time she felt more calm or at peace than when David held her and she couldn't begin to wrap her mind around when or how it happened._

_"You know I hate it when you say things like that," He murmured, kissing the top of her head, "I just want you to be happy...Why don't we adopt?"_

_Regina sniffled, lifting her head slowly from his chest to look at him. "You mean...you would? You wouldn't be disappointed that you didn't have a biological child?" The truth was he had one and she had taken them away already. The thought sickened her and she pushed it down quickly._

_"God, no-" David frowned and ran a hand over her hair, "All that matters is I'm raising them with you. Love makes you family."_

_Her heart split wide open with affection for him, tinged only by the guilt that followed. She didn't deserve his kindness or his love after what she'd done in her lifetime but she took it desperately. The feelings consumed her enough that she could pretend it was real and she had wanted this for so many years. To be loved, to be free and to be happy._

_She nodded slowly, biting down on her bottom lip to keep it from trembling as she blinked through her watery vision, "Let's adopt a baby."_

Regina's tears fell freely now and she stood from Henry's bed, staring blankly around the room as she replayed her son's words in her mind. He wanted nothing to do with her. He didn't want to live with her. He didn't love her. He looked at her like he pitied her and was as distant as if he didn't know her. Like she hadn't been the one to tuck him in every night and make him pancakes and put band-aids on his boo-boos.

He had told the Charmings to keep her alive, but why? She hated herself for the disappointment in his gaze. She hated herself for failing him and their family. She hated herself for creating this entire mess to begin with, but she couldn't regret it. If she hadn't cast the curse she would've never been Henry's mother and that was the one thing she had to make right. She had to redeem herself in her child's eyes, no matter what it took.

* * *

David pushed in the door of his former home, seeing the Evil Queen startle at the table where she sat. He swung his sword out as he walked towards her, seeing her stand and visibly prepare herself for his berating. She squared her shoulders as he brought his sword up against her neck, showing no fear.

"Where is Henry?" David glared at her, "I want to see my son."

Her expression caught him off guard as she locked eyes with him, stepping up to where he held the sword to her neck And allowing it to press into her skin. There was a hint of honesty and vunerability in her eyes that he recognized from their time spent as husband and wife. She wasn't going to fight him but she didn't speak.

"I heard you made quite a scene at the Town Hall meeting," David narrowed his eyes at her, "Threatening to hurt people, really Regina?"

"It was your Town Hall meeting, perhaps you should've been there to keep order," She said evenly, her comment snarky but her tone tired and indicating she didn't really want to argue.

"I was busy trying to get my wife and daughter back...you remember them, right? The ones who fell into a portal while we saved you from the wraith?" He shook his head with a scoff, "And this is how you repay us? Using violence to take back Henry?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you-" Regina clenched her teeth, swallowing back the retort that Henry was legally hers and they had no rights to him. Her son would hear the argument and it would not help his view of her.

"You never held back during our marriage-" He raised a brow and wasn't sure why he goaded her, "Why start now?"

"Henry, come down," She called out, veiling her inner turmoil with a cool outward demeanor. She glanced back from the stairs to him as she spoke, "You won't be using your sword."

"Whatever you have planned, I can fight it-" He clenched his jaw but she lifted a hand and pushed the sword away from her. He couldn't tell what game she was playing but he didn't trust her angle.

"I mean, you won't need your sword..." She said calmly though her eyes thundered with emotion, so much swirling inside of her dark depths that he couldn't pinpoint which ones.

He heard Henry start to come down the stairs and her eyes shifted to their son immediately, causing David to turn protectively. He felt guilty for even suspecting Regina would hurt him but he reminded himself that this wasn't the woman he thought he was married to. This was the Evil Queen and he never could be too cautious.

He began to follow her when she took a few steps up to become eye level with Henry and he stopped himself when she made no move to touch him.

"Henry, you're going to go home with David-" She said, though David could barely hear her. Her tone sounded reassuring but her voice betrayed her, becoming softer with sentiment. "I shouldn't of brought you here..."

David hated the way his heart flipped when he heard the sadness in her voice. He could tell by the way she spoke and the volume that she was struggling to keep her composure right now. She sounded like she had during their intimate talks when she'd shown him little pieces of herself, appearing so genuine and open. David knew that had all been an act but right now it was real. He had seen the way she loved Henry and knew it was probably the only pure emotion the Evil Queen had.

Regina paused for a moment, looking at her son as she tried to explain it in a way a boy would understand, "I don't know how to love very well.." She admitted, "I wasn't capable of it for a very long time, but I know that if you hold onto someone too hard, it doesn't make them love you. I'm sorry I lied and made you feel like I didn't know who you are. I want you to be here because you want to be, not because I forced you...and not because of magic."

She looked at Henry now with a pleading expression, wanting him to know she was telling him the truth, "I want to redeem myself," She whispered, hoping David couldn't hear her baring her soul to her son. Henry remained unmoved, looking back at her with the same blank expression. She gripped the railing in defeat and whispered for him to go get his things.

"Prove it-" David spoke up then, seeing her turn around to face him after Henry ran back up to pack his things.

"How?" A slight frown marred her features and the question appeared to be genuine. She lacked the smug expression and scheming eyes that the Evil Queen typically had.

"Answer one question..." David stared her down, wanting to put her to the test but not knowing why he cared so much. What did it matter if Regina really wanted to redeem herself or not? Was she even capable of feeling remorse or guilt? This was likely all an act for Henry and he didn't know why he was so eager to see if she'd lie to him again.

"Does it exist?" He asked anyways, "-the Enchanted Forest, our land - does it still exist?"

Regina tried to steel her expression as she took a few steps back down to the foyer to face him. Her eyes were glossy and she looked up at the man she had manipulated and lied to consistently up until this point. She had vowed to Henry she was going to change, and telling the truth was the first step.

"Yes," She looked up at David truthfully, her stomach turning at the pang of hurt she saw in his expression followed by something unreadable, "But I have no idea how to get back there..."

David gazed at her for a long moment, not knowing why he felt so relieved that she told him the truth about the Enchanted Forest still existing. He didn't know why he was concerned with hearing Regina admit to the fact when it meant so much more - his wife and daughter were still alive.

Regina stiffened herself against the wave of emotion that twisted her gut when she saw him process the news. She knew his thoughts had landed on Snow and Emma and she could practically hear the wheels turning for him. "I can see I just launched you on a heroic quest..."

He was brought by his thoughts, seeing the emotion welling in Regina's eyes. He studied her expression, trying to process the tension between them. She looked so vulnerable and real, like she had to him so many times before. He hated that he wanted to fall for it all over again, to believe she really was remorseful and miserable. She just wanted to appear like she was putting someone else first, likely to cover up something she had planned for later.

"Just also make sure you take care of my son," Her voice became a whisper at the end and she stared at him with pleading eyes that made him hate himself for even doubting Henrys safety with her earlier.

The war within him raged at the way her current demeanor made his heart react. Logic told him he needed to keep his distance and that it was all a game, but his heart throbbed to believe her and comfort her. Regardless of his feelings over her, this was about Henry. No matter what, their love for him was the one thing they'd always have in common and he saw it in her today.

"That I can do..." He replied quietly with a slight nod. "You know I always will, Regina...We promised each other we would years ago. He was the one real thing that came from this and I know our love for him wasn't part of the curse."

Regina nodded once and stared up at him with a heartbreaking expression as they heard Henry running down the stairs with his bag. David gave her one last nod before turning and following their son out the front door. She watched them go from the top stair like she had so many mornings before, hands clasped in front of her as the two people she loved more than anything left. Except this time, they wouldn't be home for dinner.

* * *

David glanced over at his grandson as they sat at Granny's diner. The boy hadn't touched much of his breakfast and he knew that he was still recovering from the undoubtedly confusing scene at Regina's house. Henry hadn't said much since and he knew the boy struggled with his feelings as much as he tried to hide it.

"Hey, kid-" He forced a smile at him to get his attention, "It's real. The Enchanted Forest still exists-"

"But how do we know they survived the trip there?" Henry looked up at him, the weight of the world visible on the young boy's shoulders.

David didn't know what to say. He couldn't promise Henry that Emma and Snow were okay. He was still struggling with wrapping his head around everything that had happened. Still, Henry was too young to have concerns of this nature and David knew he had to reassure him somehow.

"I can feel it," He mustered the most genuine smile he could at Henry then, letting out a breath of relief when the boy's expression changed from solemn to slightly hopeful.

Nausea hit Regina like a ton of bricks as she watched David reassure Henry that Emma and Snow were okay. He beamed from his seat at the diner and said he could feel it, which only meant that his bond with Snow was as strong as ever. They shared true love and as long as they were both alive they would be tethered. She hated herself for ever believing she could change that.

David would find Snow and Emma and Henry would choose to remain with them. They'd live as a family and put her in their past as quickly as they could. Her chest ached for release and she let out a sob, making the foyer mirror she watched them through shatter. She gasped at the sound, stepping back when the the pieces fell from the mirror frame at her feet.

Her emotions had activated her magic subconsciously and it startled her at how rusty she was at containing it. If she were going to redeem herself for Henry she had to be more careful than this. She shook her head, quickly turning to snatch Cora's book from the dining room table. She set it in the china cabinet by her dining room, quickly turning the lock to keep in an attempt to keep her temptation out of sight and mind.


	4. Chapter 4

David stared at the picture of Snow he'd pulled out of her file at the sheriff's office. He had been stewing all morning about what his next steps would be in trying to lead the town and get his family back. Between handling the crisis at hand and caring for his son-turned-grandson, there had barely been time for him to address the turmoil inside of him. His thoughts had finally shifted introspectively this morning in the quiet station and he made an attempt at descrambling his feelings.

Frustration ate away at him as his eyes nearly bore holes in the picture of Snow. He tried to summon an emotional reaction even remotely close to what seeing her used to do to him but it wouldn't come. He still felt love for Snow but it didn't hit him like a thunderbolt when he thought of her like it once did. His loyalty and his morality would always bring him back to her but he was having trouble getting his heart to agree with it. He tried blaming it on the fact they had no real time together since the curse broke, but it didn't make sense. They'd been separated before and his feelings had never faded.

He threw the picture down in aggravation, leaning back in his chair and cupping the back of his head in his threaded hands. How could his feelings from the curse still be lingering in his heart when he'd been woken up to the memories of his prior life? He made himself replay he and Snow's wedding day in his mind, searching for the way it used to warm his heart anytime he'd recall it. He longed for her now but was it just because he feared she and Emma were in danger? If that were not a factor, would he still be as determined to be with her again?

Thoughts of Regina flooded his mind despite the way he tried to avoid thinking about her. The town council had formed a letter to her, demanding her resignation and he knew she would've received it today. He wondered how she was going to process losing Henry and control of the town at the same time.

Regina loved to work and curse aside, had been a smart and efficient mayor. Outside of work she loved to still feel productive, often making plans for them on the weekend that he'd grumble about but end up enjoying. Now she had nothing else to focus on but her misery and it made him sad for her and nervous for the rest of them.

"David?" His name being called out startled him to sit up straighter. He stood up when he saw Regina rushing in, dressed in a fitted blue button up and dress pants. She looked put together outwardly but emotionally frazzled as she approached.

"Can I help you?" He frowned, taking a deep breath. There were no traces of the Evil Queen, just the familiar expression of the woman he called wife for years. Nothing but worrying over Henry ever made her this panicked and he realized something must be wrong, "Is it Henry?"

Regina hated running to David for help but it was the only thing she knew to do. After Henry had called and uncharacteristically asked her for lunch, she'd been gullible enough to believe he'd actually wanted to spend time with her. The blow of reality she received when she realized he stood her up to steal from her had crushed the tiny amount of self worth his invitation instilled.

"Henry, he-" Her brows furrowed hesitantly and David could see she had put away her pride to come to him, "He called and asked me to have lunch today-"

"And?" David put his hands on his hips in concern, looking down at her as he waited for her to continue.

"We agreed to meet at Granny's, so I went and he never came. I thought maybe you had kept him from it but then I got back to my office and realized the key to my vault is missing-" She bit down on her bottom lip in defeat before confessing, "It was a setup."

David's lips parted and he stared at her for a moment, taken aback by the pain he saw in her eyes as she admitted her own son manipulated her. He could tell she was heartbroken over him raising her hopes just to crumble them, for it was written all over her expression. "...He set you up to steal the key to your vault? You have a vault here?"

"It's just where I kept some things I brought from the Enchanted Forest," She admitted guiltily, gaze shifting to break their eye contact, "Things that could hurt him, David. You have to go to him, you know he won't leave with me-" She looked back up with glossy eyes then, her sense of urgency back and evident.

"Maybe we should've gone with Operation Viper," David raised an eyebrow breathlessly at his grandson after shutting the lid on the snakes in Regina's vault. He had arrived just in time, sliding across the dusty floor to slam the chest lid and save him from being hurt.

He and Regina had jumped in the cruiser and sped to the cemetery as fast as they could, their worry making the ride a silent one. Regina led him through the graveyard when they arrived and pointed him to the vault. David had glanced back at her when he started down the steps but she shook her head and gave him a silent, knowing look. Henry would not respond to them if she was around and they both knew it, so she held herself back and put her trust in his father to make sure he was safe.

David let out a breath of relief as he bent over to help the kid up from the floor, "You alright?"

"Yeah, how'd you know I was down here?" Henry looked up at him sheepishly as he dusted the dirt from his jacket.

"Your mom came to the station and said you asked her to lunch, and when you stood her up, she checked her office and saw her keys missing and figured out the rest. She would've come herself but she didn't think you'd go with her," He frowned deeply and crouched to the boys levels, "Henry, what were you thinking?"

"I just want them back," He replied shakily, "I should be over there with them. Riding horses and learning how to swordfight-"

"I know..." David let out a breath at the boys naïve aspirations, "But do you know how worried your mom has been that you'd hurt yourself down here? You know she'd never forgive herself if something happened to you. Especially here of all places."

"My mom?" Henry's face scrunched up then at his reference to Regina, "The Evil Queen is not my mom and she doesn't really care about me."

Henry's words struck David the wrong way and he frowned back at the boy, giving a slight shake of his head. "Listen I know it's confusing for you. It's confusing for me, too. Up until recently the three of us were a pretty happy family and now we find out she's not who she told us she was...it hurts, I get it. But Henry she's still your mother, she raised you and she loves you more than anything else."

"No she doesn't - she doesn't know how! She's the Evil Queen and she thinks love is weakness," Henry shook his head stubbornly.

David could see the boy was struggling to keep his own thoughts together when all he probably wanted was to run home to the woman he'd known as his mother and let her hold him. Henry wanted to be brave and do the right thing but he was also a boy with empathy and love for the woman who raised him. And he was trying so hard not to show it.

"Henry, listen to me-" David remained on his knees at eye level with the boy, "Regina worked very hard to adopt you, to make us a family. Even though our cursed life wasn't real doesn't mean she didn't love you or want you. You were the one part of this that I know for certain was real to her. Do you hear me? And what you did today, lying to her and standing her up when she thought you were giving her a chance - it really hurt her..."

"I'm sorry," He muttered while looking down at his shoes awkwardly.

"I don't think it's me that you need to say that to..." David said quietly as he straightened up, "Now if we're going to find our family we're going to do it together. Okay? Now come on, you need to get back to school."

David reached out for the little boy he'd raised and loved with the woman who stood around the corner, overhearing their conversation. He mentioned how he needed to make sure no one else found the vault and put a reassuring hand on Henry's shoulder. Their footsteps grew louder as they approached the staircase, prompting her to vanish in a cloud of purple smoke.

* * *

Regina found herself sitting adjacent to the cricket, not believing it herself that she'd actually come for his help. Since the curse breaking she had no one to talk to and nowhere to go but to pace her Mifflin Street home, trying to avoid the temptation of her magic.

Since the incident with Henry and David defending her to him, she'd been on edge. It has been even more work to keep her emotions at bay and stay out of trouble while her situation bombarded her. If her son hated her enough to deceive her then would he even care if she redeemed herself? If David hated her then why did he stick up for her to Henry?

Questions like this plagued her, keeping her up all night and her shoulders tense. None of it lessened the stress of learning to live without magic and she finally snapped, seeking out Dr. Hopper as a last effort to hold onto her tattered self control.

She had approached the cricket desperately outside of his building, hoping to get in before anyone else saw her. So far there had only been a minor set back when Whale burst in to harass her about sending him back to his brother. Thankfully Hopper berated Whale for his attack of Regina and made him leave. The combination of her rampant thoughts and being attacked every time she set foot outside of her home had her ready to implode by the time she sat down on the cricket's couch.

"-It's just that magic is the way I've always gotten everything. When I got it back I just thought I could take Henry and things would be okay but I made everything worse-" She shook her head, sitting stiffly as she studied her hands to avoid his eye contact, "He can't even look at me now..."

"You forgot that magic is also how you lost everything," He replied, earning a glare from her before he looked at her pleadingly to remain open, "Regina. This is your chance to start over, to earn Henry..."

Regina stared back at him with glossy brown eyes as she processed what he was saying. Her posture was rigid and her jaw was clenched but he knew she was listening, as much as she hated it. It was the most vulnerable she'd been to anyone aside from David since the curse began and talking about it began to make her unravel.

"He hates me," She whispered, bottom lip trembling and tears threatening to spill over. "My own son hates me and...h-his father does, too. I don't want to start over I just want my life back-"

Dr. Hopper looked at her with empathy, seeing the human side of her that he was sure not a lot had witnessed firsthand, "Regina, if you stay on this path you can prove to them that you've changed...And you never know, things may end up a lot differently than you think they're going to..."

She wore a pained expression as she gazed down towards her clasped hands. He could see her warring with wanting to believe him and be hopeful, but her past would not allow her to be that optimistic. "I'm never going to get them back. I'll never have what I did before the curse was broken. This is what I deserve."

"Do you really believe that? That you deserve to be miserable because of the mistakes you've made?" The cricket looked at her almost skeptically and it made her back straighten in defiance.

"After what I've done? Of course I deserve misery-" Regina shook her head with a frown, "I hurt innocent people, I destroyed lives-"

"But why did you do it?"

"To get revenge on Snow White," She replied in a tight, irritated tone.

"But why did you really do it? You're smarter than that, Regina. You know that revenge wasn't what was going to make you happy. Why did you make it your mission in the first place?"

"I told you, she ruined my life-" She cocked her head to the side in annoyance at repetition.

"But what made you thirst for revenge? What blinded your logic so fully that you thought this was the right path?" He pushed, seeing her become more visibly uncomfortable.

"I was heartbroken!" She snapped, admitting it out loud as a fresh tear escaped her eye, "Is THAT what you were digging for, Dr. Hopper?"

"I think that's a start..." He said calmly, seeing she was unnerved and wildly out of her comfort zone. "I don't think you can build a fresh start when you haven't dealt with the past, Regina."

"I have dealt with my past, I haven't forgotten what I did to people, they remind me of it everyday-" She began to rant but he interrupted her.

"I didn't mean your past as the Evil Queen," He replied more seriously, seeing her gaze snap up at him in full attention, "I meant that you can't move forward unless you deal with the things that happened to Regina..."

She scoffed and crossed her arms as if she were dealing with the biggest idiot in Storybrooke, "Did you not get the memo? That's kind of what this whole curse was about, Hopper. My revenge on Snow White, the land without magic, marrying her true love-"

"On the outside, yes," He nodded, seeing her lip twitch in anger, "But that was the Evil Queen, not Regina. You created a completely different identity to protect yourself from the pain and trauma you experienced. You've used the Evil Queen persona to shield yourself from actually processing or feeling your emotions-"

"You don't think I feel my pain?!" She growled, sitting up abruptly, "I knew this was a waste of time. You don't even have an actual doctorate, you're a bug! This was foolish, you imbecile-" She lashed out, grabbing her bag from the end table as her temper flared.

"Regina, if you had dealt with your grief or processed your trauma then you wouldn't have brought the past with you..." He stated plainly, "You were lying outside, weren't you?"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously at him then, "What?"

"When you told Whale that only the living made it to Storybrooke and you couldn't help him get to his brother-"

"Listen I don't care about Whale or his stupid brother. I brought who I wanted here. End of discussion," She snarled at the therapist who seemed unfazed by her attitude.

"If we're going to do this, I need you to trust me," Hopper looked at her firmly, "Who did you bring with you, Regina?"

Pain flickered in her expression and she pressed her lips together. She stared the man down in a last attempt to scare him before realizing she may of pegged him wrong all of these years. He looked back at her, unflinching as he waited for her response. She felt her walls begin to come down slowly at the fact he did not falter in fear of her.

"His name was Daniel. I preserved his body with an enchantment spell. He's dead but frozen, and I kept him in the family mausoleum."

"Because you couldn't let go of him," The therapist nodded as if he were putting together pieces of the puzzle, "If you can't let go of the past, Regina, it's doomed to haunt you."

Anger bubbled within her at his suggestion that she leave Daniel behind. He knew nothing of her grief or pain yet thought a fake certificate on the wall made him an expert.

"I think this has been quite enough," She said venomously, her tone not inviting argument as she stood from the couch with purpose.

"Before next week I'd like you to consider your reaction to my statement and reflect on why you feel you reacted this way. We'll discuss it this same time at next week's appointment."

"What makes you think I'd ever step foot in this office again?" She laughed bitterly, going for the door.

"Please consider it, Regina. I can help you."

"I doubt it."

* * *

Regina stood, staring unnerved at Dr. Whale in the hospital bed through the window of his room. It had all started with her reeling on her way home from Dr. Hopper's office the night before. The emotions she'd repressed for years had resurfaced with the breaking of her curse and the cricket pushing her to confront them started a landslide within her.

It was pouring the rain, mixing with her teary vision to give her a headache and wish she was home already. She hit her brakes and turned up the windshield wipers when she saw him at the corner of the street, straining to look closer. She wondered for a moment if she was hallucinating due to her stress or lack of sleep.

It was Daniel, wearing the same clothes she'd laid him to rest in, staring at her as he stood in the rain. When she blinked he was gone and she gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles were white, realizing that Dr. Whale had to be behind whatever this was.

When she'd found Whale in his destroyed laboratory and he told her he'd brought Daniel back she'd barely been able to process it. When he added that he'd come back as a monster, she refused to believe it. Daniel was back and that was all that mattered. She could handle whatever issues came with that and she was prepared to fix them. She would not give up on him again.

The nurses told her that she'd gotten Whale to the hospital just in time after transporting them immediately with her magic to the emergency room. She watched him now, hooked up to monitors and still unconscious, as she tried to grasp what this all meant for her.

Daniel was back. Her Daniel was alive again. Would he accept the person she'd become? Would he still be able to love her despite the past she'd created? Worry gnawed at her stomach and she stared through the glass, wondering where he might of gone. David and her son hated her but maybe with time Henry would come around. And if she had Daniel beside of her in the meantime, well that sounded too good to be true. She would have someone.

The thought of Daniel's return didn't lessen the ache in her heart for David, but maybe she'd be able to ignore it easier. Maybe she wouldn't have to be alone and there was still someone that could love her unconditionally. God knows Daniel was her only opportunity for that in this realm and the rest.

"What's going on?" Her husband's voice startled her and she spun around quickly, seeing him charging in, "I just got a call that Dr. Whale was attacked."

Regina saw the accusatory look he was giving her and made a mental note that she had to stop thinking of him as her husband. He would've never looked at her that way.

"You'll have to ask his doctors," She frowned.

"No, I'm asking you," He narrowed his eyes, lifting his finger up to point it at her.

Regina bristled at the attitude coming from him. She'd done nothing since she pledged her good behavior to Henry that would warrant this accusation and she hated that it stung even more coming from him.

"I came here to speak with him and discovered that he was hurt," She grit, narrowing her own gaze back at him.

David raised in eyebrow in the way he always did when he didn't believe something she said. It usually happened during their marital squabbles when she'd claim she was fine and he knew she wasn't. That's when he'd arch a brow and stare at her until she admitted that he had upset her or her feelings were hurt or she needed to talk about something.

"I'm telling the truth!" She frowned at him hurtfully. Did he not know her at all? Their marriage may have been a part of the curse but they had shared so many ups and downs together. Did he truly not feel anything real during it?

"What else?" He pushed her, the personal space between them gone and their faces inches apart. It was as if he wanted her to admit to doing wrong just to validate his poor opinion of her which made her resentful. "What did you come here to speak with him about?!"

"Someone from my past," Regina tried to appear casual, her eyes shifting down from his gaze before looking back up at him. Her history was something she'd told fully to no one. Sharing it with someone she'd gone from intimate to enemies with felt awkward. "I believe he's come back...Daniel...his name is Daniel..."

She watched as David put the puzzle pieces together from what he knew of the Evil Queen and what she'd told him about her past during their marriage. She had left out the fairytale aspects, but told him about her difficult relationship with her mother and about losing her first love to a terrible accident. Everything she had shared with him had been a part of her real history and now he was connecting the dots between their talks and what Snow had told him.

"The man that you were supposed to marry," David nodded, remembering the night she'd shared with him about losing her first love to an accident when she was 18. He realized Snow had also told him about Regina being in love with a stable boy who was killed and he frowned in confusion, "Snow told me what happened and how it was her fault that he died..."

"Yes...he did-" She nodded, swallowing thickly at the look on his face.

"Then how could he be back-" David frowned deeper.

"Whale...He believed he could bring him back from the grave, and..." Regina's expression grew hopeful and she smiled unsurely, "I don't know how but...he has," She looked up at him wide-eyed and he felt a pang of jealousy shoot through him.

"You don't know how?" David scoffed and crossed his arms, his gut telling him that this would not end as well as Regina clearly wanted it to. There was dark magic involved with whatever was going on here. "Guess."

"No, not magic. He practices something more powerful than magic," Regina shook her head and tried to reassure him, reaching out to touch his arms. "All he needed was a heart...and he took one of mine."

David's eyes widened and Regina scrambled desperately to act like it was a normal statement. Her former husband's reaction to what was going on was slowly tugging her back to the reality. The reality that tampering with death and dark magic did not end well...and that having a vault of hearts was in now way normal.

"You have hearts here?" He looked at her incredulously, pulling her to the corner of the waiting room with a grip on her upper arms. The expression he wore looked like he was staring at a stranger, not being able to comprehend that she was more heinous than he knew.

"It's my vault - from our land, back then," Regina tried to defend herself, as if the fact that she'd not added to her collection recently should be mentioned.

David watched her in disbelief, realizing that she was not thinking clearly. She was obviously shaken by the thought of someone from her past coming back and he didn't like to see her this way. The more he saw the soft, vulnerable side of her the more he began to remember instances where he'd seen it before during their marriage. Had those times been real or was she acting then? He hated that he even wanted to know.

"Regina, whose heart did he take?" David forced himself back to the problem at hand and looked at her seriously.

He saw her expression change, as if she were beginning to understand the gravity of the situation, "I have no idea..." Her eyes shifted away from him, "I took so many it was impossible to keep track."

David stared down at her as he tried to fathom how this Evil Queen who took hearts for fun could be the same woman he'd just been married to. The woman who cried when their son took his first steps. Who cuddled into his back at night when she was cold. Who was always too shy to ask for comfort but would melt into him as soon as he opened his arms to her. How could the Regina he knew be the same Evil Queen that killed innocents and wrecked his life?

She saw the struggle play out on his features. His forehead creased in disappointment at her and she felt her stomach sink. She had exposed herself as a heart stealing murderer and David was seeing her for what she was.

"I need to go," She frowned and diverted her gaze, starting to walk around him until he grabbed her. "I have to help him."

"No," David wrapped his hands around her upper arms firmly, "Where is he? Look what he did to Whale, he's dangerous-"

"Not to me-" She shook her head quickly, "He wont' hurt anyone else David, I promise-"

He shook his head, chest heavy with jealousy and anger that he couldn't explain, "You know I can't take that chance."

He glared at her, angry that she was putting him in this position. How dare she make him care about her and then try to put herself in danger?

"You have two choices, Regina," He stepped up to her closer, his expression stern, "You tell me where he is or go to jail."

It was weak, but he was at his wits end and didn't know what else he could possibly threaten her with.

"I told you I don't know! But I'll find him, I promise-" She begged him then, hand gripping the front of his jacket.

David looked at her for a long moment and let out an exasperated breath. He didn't know why, maybe years of marriage, but he could sense she was telling the truth.

"Come on."

"What?" She frowned at his sudden change in direction.

"I said come on, we're going to our _\- I mean_ , your house after we pick up Henry from school," David nodded, straightening his jacket over his gun belt where she'd pulled at it, "As long as this guys out there, you're not staying alone. Now come on - we need to tell the others to get inside until we figure out where he is."


	5. Chapter 5

"So are we just going back to the way things were before?" Henry frowned when David came into his room and sat next to him on the edge of the bed. The ride home had been a silent one after Regina and David picked Henry up from school. They'd made a quick stop so that David could speak to the town council and put out a warning for people to stay off the streets and then they came back to their old home. Regina remained eerily quiet and had been elusive ever since they'd walked through the front door as they had so many times before as a family.

"No, Henry," David shook his head and sighed, not knowing how to even explain it to him. The simple answer was yes, he still cared about Regina's well-being, but what did that mean? What did it say that he knew his true love was out there but he was concerned about keeping the Evil Queen safe? "Someone from Regina's past is back...and they're dangerous. We're going to stay put under one roof until your mom and I find them."

"I told you she's not my mom," Henry said defiantly and David ran a hand over his face in exhaustion.

"I'm sorry, kid. I know this is a lot to process," He put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "But we can't give up. Regina's upset right now, we need to keep an eye on her and I don't trust that this guy won't come looking for her or hurt someone else trying to find her. This is just temporary."

"Why is he looking for my mo-" Henry glanced up at him before catching himself, "-the Evil Queen? Does he want to hurt her?"

David frowned and knew that his son deserved the truth, especially to keep himself safe if anything else, "Your mom's first love - Daniel," He frowned and took a deep breath, "Dr. Whale-"

"You mean Frankenstein?" Henry corrected with a raised brow, "It's pretty obvious."

"Yeah, him," He shook his head with a sigh, "He brought Daniel back from the dead, but he isn't the man your mother knew...he's violent. This sort of thing is why you never tamper with magic Henry. Playing with life and death, like that...it will always end poorly."

Henry nodded, absorbing David's words, "You really think he'd hurt her?" He asked and David wanted to tell the boy to go down and hug his mother like he wanted to. But with everything Regina had done, how could he dismiss the boy's feeling of betrayal when he knew it all too well? He couldn't, so he didn't push Henry to make amends with her.

"I think he's just not in control of himself anymore, he would probably hurt anyone," David nodded and let out a breath, running a hand over Henry's hair. "So I want you to get some sleep. And if you hear anything out of the ordinary you come to us, okay? Your Mom put up a protection spell around the house, but we don't know what we're dealing with just yet."

"Okay," Henry nodded tiredly, allowing David to pull the covers up over him as he laid back in bed. He blinked slowly as David leaned over to tuck him in and kiss his head, "G'night dad."

David swallowed hard at the familiar name and mumble to Henry's voice. It was a painful reminder of his life here before the curse had broken and how content he'd been. His heart ached over missing their routine and his head throbbed at the fact that he did. He shut Henry's door on the way out and took a deep breath, leaning back against the hall wall.

He looked up, eyes focusing in on the arrangement of pictures Regina had put up of Henry over the years. Most of them were candid photos of their family holidays and special moments. He noticed she'd added a larger picture that Henry took last Christmas with his new camera of she and David curled on the couch after watching him bask in his gifts.

How long had it been up there and he hadn't noticed? The house was always so filled with love and contentment that he took for granted the detailed touches she added to their life. Would a woman who didn't care about her family go to the trouble of something as mundane as hanging photos? Of making their house feel like home? Being there now that he knew what he did only served to tighten the tug of war in his heart.

This was where they had made so many memories. Memories that he couldn't seem to release even though they were manufactured by the woman he thought he loved. But the years they spent living together as a family were real and the way they came to be did not make them any less so. At least not in his heart.

He saw the faint kitchen light from the top of the stairs and continued down the hall, taking in the feeling of being there once again. Regina had secluded herself somewhere downstairs and he wanted to see if she'd changed anything since they'd been gone. But everything appeared the same, just the way it had been when they were blissfully happy and he wasn't tortured by carrying two lives worth of memories.

He let the ache in his heart lead him to the end of the hall where their bedroom was. The door was open and he noticed Regina had left the bedside lamp on. He knew she was unnerved by the dark and that is likely why she'd left it on for tonight when she thought she was coming home to an empty house. He hated the fact that he cared if she felt lonely or scared living here alone for the first time. She was the Evil Queen, the one responsible for this entire mess. She didn't deserve his consideration.

But she had also been his Regina. The thoughtful wife who turned down the bed and always asked how his day was as they climbed into it. The always freezing heat seeker who stole covers and tucked her cold feet under his legs and cuddled into his back while they slept. The temptress that kept him up at night with mischievous kisses and wandering hands that got him in the mood no matter how tired he was. The insufferably cheerful morning person who woke him on Saturday mornings chatting his ear off about what she had planned for them.

He walked into their bedroom and noticed her side of the bed was made up but that his side had been slept in. Her glass of water and her alarm clock were on his nightstand and he wondered why she'd choose to change her side of the bed now. In the past he'd come home to find her wearing his flannels because she said she'd missed him and he wondered briefly if that could be the reason behind it. Then again, was she even capable of feeling sentimental? Those soft little things she would do that he always found endearing were likely just a part of her act, after all.

His gaze flickered from her new sleeping arrangement to her silky pajama set lying folded on the bed and his thoughts quickly shifted to how intimate they'd been in this very room. Their sex varied from playful and passionate to something deep and meaningful just as their conversations had. He remembered the way she'd told him things about herself and how vulnerable she seemed gripped him now. In this very bed and under these very covers they had shared hopes and fears and future plans. Was anything real?

He remembered a night that had always stuck out to him, especially now, when Regina had become emotional seemingly out of nowhere. She wasn't one to vocalize her feelings often but she had blurted out her love for him in an unexpected moment and when he looked into her her eyes they were filled with tears. He realized now that it would've probably been a few years into the curse, long before they'd adopted Henry. It had probably stuck in his mind because recalling it now, it had been the first time she'd told him. Had she meant it at all?

_Regina's body curled up from the bed, hips pushing against his as he took her, sinking deeper and stretching her with his size. She reached up to grip the headboard with one hand, choking on a moan as their bodies slid together with ease and he filled her to the hilt. They'd been at it for hours now after getting worked up from an argument, both of them slick with sweat and Regina's first two orgasms._

_Her insecurities had gotten the best of her at their date night at Granny's when Ruby, being her usual over-friendly self, had been too attentive to David for Regina's liking. Regina had seemed not only irritated but unnerved by it, as if she were expecting him to leave her at any moment and that Ruby's flirty nature would be the thing to take him._

_They'd argued the entire way home, David trying endlessly to prove his loyalty to her and arguing that he hadn't been flirting back with Ruby._ _It had seemed like Regina was more angry at herself for expecting him to want to be faithful to her and that she was looking for ways to prove he wouldn't be. Like she wanted him to admit that he was going to abandon her after one exchange with another woman and that he actually didn't love her at all._

_He'd chased her up the stairs when they got home and she stormed down the hall, still spatting when they reached their bedroom door. She spun around to face him once in their room and they continued to push each other's buttons, knowing just what to say to piss the other off. He accused her of being irrationally jealous and she accused him of having a wandering eye. It was stupid and immature but he saw a hint of fear in her eyes when she accused him and knew that picking a fight was how she was dealing with her own anxiety._

_David had finally grabbed her and shut her up with a firm kiss and they instantly began removing clothing and moving towards the bed, both knowing they were idiots to let the foolish argument go this far. Now they were here, three rounds later, panting and sweating and coming on ruined sheets. They would both feel it tomorrow with how rough they were being but they didn't care. They took each other in a demanding and possessive manner, as if to prove the honesty of their feelings._

_He braced himself with one arm under her lower back and the other above her head, pressed into the mattress to keep himself up as he drove himself into her. She moaned with each thrust as he pushed deeper and harder. His cock slid out of her half way before driving into her wetness again, creating a rhythm that had her breasts brushing his chest and her nipples grazing his skin deliciously._

_David knew she had needed reassuring, that for some reason she was insecure about his love for her and that it was his job to convince her it was real. Her past had made it difficult for her to put her complete trust in anyone and he knew he was earning it. She would push him away every so often but he'd reel her back in. He kept his eyes locked with hers he took her, seeing her mouth fall open as he coaxed a sling of incoherent words and moans from her._

_"I'm-" She gasped, lips parting as her brown eyes darkened and he felt her walls begin to tighten around his cock. He pushed into her to his root, hearing her cry out in appreciation of his girth as he kept himself deep inside. Without pause he began grinding and pushing his hips into hers, knowing she was more than wet and stretched enough to take it. Her arousal seeped from her and onto the sheets below, the erotic wet sound of it spurning him on as he moved his arm from her lower back down to her hips, keeping them tightly against his own._

_"David!" She yelped before sucking in a sharp breath, back arching and her heels pushing into his lower back. Her muscles clenched around his cock with force as the rest of her body squirmed and writhed in his hold. He groaned as he watched the pleasure play out in her expression and continued to jut into her until the gripping of her tight walls sent him over the edge, milking him of his own orgasm when he finished inside of her._ _He groaned breathlessly into her neck as his hips slowly stopped undulating, drawing out the pleasure for them as long as he could. He remained lying between her legs, feeling her thighs trembling against his sides, weak from the pleasure that radiated from her core throughout her limbs. When he heard sniffles he lifted his head from her neck, searching her expression with a concerned look of his own._

_"Sweetheart?" He frowned worriedly and studied her eyes, "Oh god, did I hurt you?" He saw the tear fall from the corner of her eye into her hairline as she looked up at him and his blood ran cold at the thought he'd been too rough._

_She shook her head quickly, swallowing at the knot in her throat. "No...No, I'm fine. I just...I love you, David."_

"Did you need something...?" He heard Regina ask, ripping him from his memory of the heated night between them. His mouth gaped momentarily, scrambling for a something to explain himself before he nodded and turned to her.

"I was just grabbing some pajamas," He schooled his features and pointed towards the closet, making his way over to open the door on his side. "Sorry-" He muttered without looking back in her direction and instead stared at all of his clothing and shoes just how he'd left him. He glanced to the wall of the closet and spotted one of his flannels hanging on her hook, hitting his gut with a melancholy blow. She had been wearing it.

"It's fine. Take whatever you need, it's all still there," Regina replied in her all-business tone accompanied by a curt nod and clasped hands. "Towels are in the bathroom if you need to shower. The guest room is made up and waiting for you."

"Thank you for the hospitality," David said dryly, something about the way she'd dismissed him from his own bedroom rubbing him the wrong way. He'd been in the middle of such an intimate memory with her that her aloofness now felt like a slap in the face even though he knew reality was different. Bitterness and frustration bubbled within that he even allowed the memory to bother him and he found himself needing to lash out. Arguing and being angry with her was easier than whatever this was. "I'll be sure not to take too long. Wouldn't want to inconvenience you."

"Excuse me?" Regina frowned, sitting down on the edge of the bed and rubbing her temples. "Actually. Never mind, I don't want to know what your problem is. I can't do this with you right now, David."

"You can't do this-" He muttered her words before he let out a bitter laugh, turning to her after grabbing a pair of his pajama pants. "I'm in the Evil Queen's bedroom getting a pair of my pajamas out of a closet I used to share with her while my true love is in another realm facing god knows what. And the worst part is that I can't do anything about it because I'm stuck here with the evil bitch behind it all!"

Regina's mouth gaped and her eyes blew wide with anger. She stood abruptly, going from seeming defeated to ready to fight in a mere second which oddly satisfied him, "I never asked you to come here! You insisted! I never asked for your help or your protection. I can take care of myself! You can leave my house any time you see fit!"

"Oh so I'm supposed to leave you here alone to face this man from your past? Some man that you turned into a violent monster because you couldn't let go of him?" She flinched at the statement and David almost felt bad about it. Almost. "Hell, Regina, if he can do that to Whale what's stopping him from taking you out? If something happened I know you'd refuse to use your magic on him and he'd end up killing you."

"He wouldn't hurt me," She insisted defiantly with a stubborn shake of her head. "I told you I can take care of myself and if you want to leave then no one is stopping you!"

"I bet you'd love that, wouldn't you?" He grit his teeth, his aggravation pushing him to react further. "You've wrecked my life but now that Daniel is back you can't wait for me to get out of the picture, can you?"

"You don't even want to be in the picture!" She yelled back at him with wild eyes, her confusion showing through. "So why are you still here?!"

"Because you were my wife! If any of it was real-" He stopped quickly before he exposed himself, face flushed with anger at their situation and how poorly he was controlling his feelings over it. "Regardless of how I feel, we share a son. For his sake, I can't let anything happen to you-" he corrected so that she would not catch on that it was about so much more than just Henry.

"If what was real-" Her eyes filled with tears and she sucked in a breath, seeming caught on his initial statement.

"We were married for decades, Regina-" His tone was hard and he became angrier that she was prodding his slip up. "Years of waking up to you, of raising a kid with you, of talking to you and fucking you! I can't just dispose of you knowing what this guy could do. I'm not heartless like you-"

Her glistening eyes hardened at the term he used, "We both know that when Snow gets back you're going to do the right thing. Let's not make this harder than it has to be. You'll go back to her and Henry will go with you and the four of you will forget me. Do not stick around now because you feel you need to be the hero for Henry's sake. Get out of my house and leave me be. I am fine on my own."

"Of course you are," David glared, feeling hurt that he admitted to wanting to protect her and she only ordered him gone without hesitation. "I forgot, I'm dealing with the Evil Queen. Not whoever you pretended to be before the truth came out. Don't worry, come morning we will be out of your hair for good."

* * *

Regina felt the familiar sense of dread settle in her gut as she dressed for the day, knowing her house was empty from the moment she'd woken up. David and Henry had left that morning just as he'd promised. Just as she'd instructed him to. She didn't know why she had expected something different but a small part of her had hoped he wouldn't leave. That it wasn't just about his promise to Henry but that David secretly cared about her well-being.

It was foolish but it didn't hurt any less as she walked down the hall, looking into the guest bedroom and seeing the bed made as if he'd never been there. Henry's bedroom door was open as well and she noticed his disheveled covers and empty bed, her chest aching that he wouldn't even tell her goodbye. She didn't know when she would see him again but she knew he did not believe she really intended to redeem herself. She didn't know if it would matter if she did at this point, but she would keep her promise to him.

She leaned into the door-frame of Henry's bedroom as her vision blurred with tears. Even if she never used magic again her son might never forgive her. She knew all too well how the scars inflicted by a parent's manipulation could last a lifetime. He had barely spoken to her when she and David picked him up from school the day before, immediately eyeing her suspiciously when he spotted her in the vehicle. Seeing his distrust towards her and knowing she deserved it nearly crippled her with pain and self-loathing every time no matter how often she'd seen it lately.

Finding David in their room the night before looking as if he was reliving a memory had not helped her feel any more reassured in her fragile emotional state. Just the image of him standing near the bed they shared had her yearning for reality to be a dream. She had wished he'd simply been changing into his pajamas in preparation of getting into that bed and cuddling her until she felt safe again. Until she didn't feel so alone.

Instead he had hurled a string of painful insults at her, calling her heartless and evil. The man who she'd let know her true self more intimately than anyone ever had, calling her out for what she really was. Confirming that he had only been there because he had promised Henry he wouldn't let her die. He was a hero and heroes kept their word. He didn't have any love for her keeping him there because it had been manufactured by a curse that no longer existed. His anger was merely due to the fact his promise to Henry kept him bound to a woman he hated.

So she had released him from his duty and ordered him gone, allowing for his return to Snow's loft and working to get his real family back. She knew she had to let David and Henry go and let them reunite with Snow and Emma without her interference. They were lost to her, especially David. Henry may forgive her someday but only if she kept her promise to him and proved herself worthy of redemption. The sliver of hope that he might someday speak to her again kept her on her path despite the Evil Queen wanting to take over and protect her from the heartbreak she felt.

Daniel had given her reason to get up and dressed for the day, determined to find him and salvage whatever he had become. The possibility of having him back had been too much for her to absorb and keeping up a front around David had not allowed her to fully delve into what Daniel's return may mean. After her argument with David she had closed her bedroom door and sat in shock, finally allowing her brain to try to process that her first love may be alive. She spent most of the night shakily holding the ring he'd given her and attempting a locating spell with no luck. The rest was spent in bouts of fitful sleep, her dreams haunted by past trauma that her current reality had stirred within her.

Another chance with Daniel was all she had left and she forced herself out of her own head and into action, turning to make her way down the hall to start her mission. Her hand skimmed the railing as she made her way down the steps, pausing midway when a knock on the door startled her. Her heart immediately began thumping faster and anxiety knotted her stomach at the uncertainty of who would be on the other side.

There were so many people that still wanted to see her dead. She would have to watch her back during every waking moment, just like she had as the Evil Queen in the Enchanted Forest. Maybe David and Henry had returned and this would be nothing. Perhaps they'd just gone to Granny's for breakfast like they used to and would be on the other side of the door with a bag of takeout.

She scolded herself for the foolish notion as she stepped down into the foyer and walked across it to reach the door. Things were not as they once were and David would not be bringing her back breakfast and a kiss. Helplessness and fear gripped her as it had in her youth before the Evil Queen began to protect her. Her promise to Henry left her with no form of defense should this be someone who wanted to cause her harm. Still, she would not give the town the satisfaction of watching her hole up in her mansion and waste away from fear of what they might do to her.

Regina took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, channeling her best Evil Queen persona that crumbled as soon as she swung the door open. "Daniel..."

* * *

David glanced at Henry to make sure he was still sleeping when he heard the knock on his apartment door. It had been days since he'd spoken to or heard from Regina but he had text her asking if she could watch Henry and she had responded almost immediately. He hated to ask her for help but he was at his wits end with the town unraveling faster than he could fix it. He braced himself and crossed the apartment in a few strides, opening the door to see her looking up at him with an indecipherable expression.

"Hey, thanks for coming-" He frowned and stepped to the side to motion for her to come in. The smell of her perfume caused an uncomfortable twinge in his heart as she passed but he forced the sense of longing from his mind and closed the door behind her. "I just need you to watch Henry-"

"So you said," She replied in the same cool tone he used, her eyes softening when her gaze flickered over to the bed and saw their son's sleeping form. "What's going on? Is he ill?" She frowned and looked back to David then, concern creasing her brow.

"He's been having nightmares," He admitted, remaining on the opposite side of the apartment so that their conversation wouldn't wake the boy.

"Nightmares? What kind of nightmares-" Her tone became fiercely protective and she looked at him accusingly, like this was somehow a result of neglect.

"I've been a little busy-" David clenched his jaw, keeping his voice low despite her attitude making him want to get loud with her. Seeing her even after a week of no communication had immediately stirred something within him and only proved that time and distance didn't seem to ease her effect on his psyche. "He's dreaming about being in a burning room. I don't know. It just sounds like a kid's nightmare, but I can't exactly leave him here alone either way."

"Oh, I see. You need a babysitter for our son that you took from me so that you can go find a way to get your family back?" Regina smiled sarcastically at him and his eyes narrowed in response.

"Actually, I got a call from Granny about Ruby, some trouble with her transforming again-" David ran a hand through his hair and over the tense muscles of his neck, "Not to mention I'm dealing with the hysteria of the town over your curse and Albert Spencer coming for me to take control of the people. Oh and lets not forget, the threat of the man who attacked Whale still being on the loose-"

"Actually-" Her expression faltered and he saw a hint of vulnerability at the mention of her stable boy, "Daniel...he, he's with me. At the mansion..."

"He what-?!" David whispered fiercely and took a step towards her, staring her down for answers. "And you didn't think to call me?! Jesus, Regina!" His eyes searched her over for any sign of harm before he could stop himself.

"Why would I? I told you I would handle it!" She snapped, instantly defensive at the way he spoke to her and mask slipping back into place. "He is perfectly fine. I've got everything under control-"

"Under control? Well forgive me if I don't trust you when you say that when you're behind all of this-" He glared, "How could you not tell me you found him?!"

"I didn't find him!" Regina snapped as much as their current whispered volume would allow, "He found me-" She added and diverted her gaze, causing him to become even more suspicious. There were many years of reading her body language under his belt and he knew how she acted when she wished to avoid delving deeper into a topic.

"He needs to be locked up-" David replied firmly, putting his hands on his hips. "And I should lock you up for harboring a criminal!"

"He's not a criminal, David," She shook her head adamantly, "He just doesn't have his own heart. When Whale woke him up he thought he was under attack and retaliated. He didn't mean to cause him harm-"

"Oh don't give me that shit-" He snorted in disbelief at how casual she was being about her former lover-turned-monster being in their home. "You saw what he did to Whale! That was intentional and we both know it. There's something wrong with him, he's not who he used to be-"

"Only at first! Waking up with someone else's heart was having an adverse reaction on him. Your instinct would be to fight too if you woke up in an entirely different realm surrounded by Whale's medical instruments and bright lights. He was scared!"

"Scared?! Regina you know as well as I do that messing with life and death has serious consequences. You're telling me he's just back to normal now? That he's gotten used to this new heart and won't hurt anyone else again?" His own heart screamed at the idea of her in danger and it made him feel utterly overwhelmed with stress of everything else.

"I've found magic that helps him, potions-" Regina explained carefully, holding her hands up in front of him as if to plead for him to keep calm at the mention of her magic. "I'm not using magic again, I swear - only mixing potions. They help his body stop rejecting the heart and prevent the adverse reactions to occur. I think with time and these potions, that we can-" She paused and he saw her eyes gloss over with emotion as her expression softened and she swallowed thickly, "-that he could live a normal life."

David felt his stomach churn at the hope and vulnerability and love in her expression. She intended to keep Daniel here and try to make it work with him. Her first love was back and she doing everything in her power to keep it so. He pushed the feelings down that the news stirred in him, forcing himself to remain hardened to their current reality. "Well, isn't that good news for you-" He replied tersely, not being able to help how it came out or to stop his next remark, "After everything you've done. The lives you've destroyed. You get another chance with the man you love."

"I know that it doesn't seem fair-" Regina admitted, her voice small and her gaze downcast. "I didn't plan-"

"Fair? It is the furthest thing from fair," David let out a quiet, humorless chuckle. "It is no wonder you haven't been after me to see your son. Is it a little easier to forget about Henry now that you have Daniel back? Don't need him anymore to fill the void? Or me to play your husband? You've got the real deal now-"

"David-" She whispered his name in an almost pleading tone and looked up at him, tears threatening to spill over her lashes. He didn't know where her emotion was coming from and he didn't care. Reading her body language was one thing that hadn't changed but reading her eyes was a skill he lost when the curse broke. He had witnessed every emotion flicker through those dark depths when they were married but it had been a lie. Trying to decipher what meaning they held and the authenticity of it now only served to further confuse his heart and torment his mind.

"I'm happy for you, Regina, truly-" He nodded and gave a wide smile then in a vain attempt to cover his resentment. She was getting the man she loved back after tearing he and Snow apart. After haunting him with feelings from their cursed marriage that he couldn't shake. The irony of it all made him insane. "I guess things are starting to look up around here after all. We were just celebrating at Granny's last night. It was a shame you missed it, though I'm not sure the town would've welcomed you."

"Celebrating?" She questioned at his sudden change in behavior, her tone uncertain.

"Didn't you hear? We found fairy dust down in the mines. Enough to soon make Jefferson's hat work again," David explained, forcing himself to seem giddy at the idea. The way he should be feeling instead of so goddamn conflicted over Regina. "We will be able to open the portal to get Snow and Emma back."

"Oh," Regina visibly swallowed, face expressionless but her eyes swimming with emotions he still couldn't track. "Well, congratulations, Charming. It looks like you're getting your happy little family back after all."

"Just like I said I would," David gave an arrogant shrug to spite her, "Now if you'll keep an eye on Henry, I should be back in a few hours. I'm sure you're anxious to get home to Daniel."

David watched her give a single nod, her lips pressed together as if she had nothing else to say and didn't plan to rise to his bait. He watched her for a moment before turning and grabbing his jacket from the hook and making his way out of the apartment. His head felt like it could explode after trying to keep a shred of his composure in front of her. He didn't have time to face what his reaction to all of this meant. Not when he had a town depending on him and a family to reunite.

* * *

Regina swiped at her tears in annoyance that they would not cease as she attempted to focus on measuring her latest batch of potion. Daniel would be waking soon and she needed to be prepared for whatever mood it would bring. She felt as if she'd been in a trance since the night she'd first seen him standing in the road and the events following had only served to shake her until she was grasping at straws to keep an ounce of sanity. Part of her had even begun to wonder if she was dreaming or under a spell that impaired her reality. Anything to explain just how wildly her life was spinning out of control.

She had just returned from spending hours at Henry's bedside, watching him sleep and rehearing what she would say when he woke up angry over her being there. Torturing herself had only proved wasted when David returned before their son even woke up. Conversation and eye contact between them was sparse as she she gathered her things to leave. David asked if Henry had any nightmares and Regina confirmed he had not. He merely nodded in response and muttered thanks before glancing at the door dismissively. She had been too tired to call him out on his callous behavior and left the apartment without another word. There was no time for another hurtful argument with him when she had a rather urgent matter at home.

Her first love - the man she had grieved for decades, the man she cursed and ruined lives for - he was back, lying sleeping in her downstairs guest room. He appeared alive and breathing when she opened her front door just days ago, dressed in the same clothes she'd buried him in. They were tattered and blood-stained, his hair disheveled and his once kind expression wild with distress. His eyes changed the moment he recognized her and she had nearly fainted at seeing the familiarity reflected in his gaze.

She had dreamt of his return for years following his death. Dreamt that one day he would appear and they would have a second chance at the life together that was stolen from them years ago. Except in her dreams he had been entirely himself, full of warmth and confidence and radiating love for her. They would embrace and she would know in her heart that everything would work out.

This wasn't her dream. Daniel was confused, seeming to come in and out of coherent thought as the misplaced heart in his chest reacted toxically with his mind. He knew who he was part of the time, his brain still healthy enough from her enchantment to give him moments of lucidity, but the stranger's heart battled for control of his psyche. It caused him bouts of agonizing pain that crippled him mentally and physically with headaches and mood-swings that she hadn't been prepared for.

He had allowed her to hug him when he stumbled in her front door, uttering her name desperately as they embraced and she cried into his chest. Her presence had seemed to bring him out of his haze enough to calm him, allowing her to explain how he'd ended up in this land and the short version of what had happened while he was gone. He explained in broken sentences what had happened when Whale brought him back to life, the fear and confusion and excruciating pain of the experience prompting the heart in his chest take over.

From what she gathered he had blacked out when the heart took control and did not remember becoming violent. He couldn't explain how he had tracked her down or come to be on her doorstep or if he had hurt anyone else in the process. Dread filled her stomach when he seemed to realize the severity of his own situation and his panic began to take over. He had doubled over on her sofa in pain, holding his head with his hands and rocking as he became more agitated. She had tried to console him through her own tears but his hand came up and grabbed her wrist, painfully twisting it until she cried out.

Her cry seemed to bring him back for a mere second, giving her time to stand and stumble back from his grip. He groaned in agony and looked at her with pleading eyes, like he knew what he'd done but couldn't verbalize an apology, which only served to upset him more. Within seconds he had spiraled into a rage and his face turned unrecognizably dark, eyes glinting with malice as he started to make his way towards her. The pain made him uncoordinated, giving her an advantage in getting away from him as she rounded the living room and tried to talk to him, hoping her voice would trigger his brain and bring him back to lucidity.

It hadn't worked and she ended up cornered, unable to calm his growing rage. Instinct took over during her panic and she used magic to render him unconscious before she even made the conscious decision to do so. When she realized what had happened she simply crumpled over him where he fell, sobbing for a solid hour as the trauma worked it's way through her. When she was able to stop crying long enough to catch her breath she lifted her head and allowed herself to soak in being near him again. His face had been so peaceful as he slept and she had traced his features with her finger as she had so many times when they were only kids, realizing she couldn't bring herself to give up on him.

Despite her gut instinct she had removed Cora's spell-book from the locked cabinet and found a potion similar to a sleeping curse but more temporary. She had decided that having something to give him to keep him from falling into another one of these episodes would allow her enough time to find a more permanent fix. In the days since she had barely slept, researching constantly for a remedy. The only answers she found involved dark magic that would erase even more of the real Daniel or switching out the heart for another, which likely kill him in his already compromised health.

So she found herself yet again at her kitchen counter, making more of the potion that helped sedate him and sleep when the pain became unbearable. She hoped the potion would keep him calm long enough for his body to stop violently rejecting the heart. If she could only manage to get him physically healthy then the rest would fall in place. It had to.

"You're awake," Regina smiled weakly when she opened the guest room door and saw him stirring in the bed, eyes opening and blinking at her sleepily.

"Regina..." He murmured, seeming to remember where he was and what had happened to bring him here. Retaining his memories of the past few days encouraged her and she continued into the room with his tea, placing it slowly on the nightstand.

"How are you feeling?" She asked and studied him, sitting down on the edge of the bed once she was sure it was her gentle Daniel in control for the time being.

"Well enough for now," He managed a meek smile and grasped her hand when she slipped it under his. His body was still cooler to the touch than it should be but she willed the thought away when he spoke again. "Have you found anything?"

"Not yet, but I'm not giving up-" Regina searched his expression, fearful that he would begin to give up himself and ask her to quit trying. She couldn't face having to say goodbye to him again, fearing that if she lost one more person she may break in a way that would never allow her to find her strength again. He was all she had and she found herself reverting to the heartbroken twenty year old who begged Frankenstein to bring him back. "We're going to fix this."

"If you say so, Regina," Daniel looked up at her with his familiar, warm gaze that made her heart ache with desperation to help him. She had changed so much since she'd last seen that look of tenderness from him but she would not fail him now. "Tell me about your life here..."

She smiled timidly at his request, shame coloring her features. "I told you - I cursed this land...I have no life here...not anymore, not since the curse was broken."

"And before? You had a family?" He asked with no trace of resentment, only gentle curiosity of her life since they parted. She envied the peace he seemed to have over their past during his lucid moments but the resigned sadness she sometimes caught in his gaze felt like a knife twisting in her gut.

"I have a son," Her throat burned with emotion, wishing things were different so that she could introduce them instead of merely tell him. "Henry Daniel..." She smiled through tears when his expression warmed at the knowledge she'd named her son after him. "I adopted him ten years ago."

"Where is he now?"

"With...with his father," Regina bit her bottom lip anxiously and glanced down to their hands. She knew neither of them had the energy to get into the specifics of who Henry's father was or the twisted way she made Snow's husband her own in the curse. Her stomach rolled at the thought of having to explain just how far she'd fallen from soft-hearted girl he once knew.

"You loved him?" Daniel inquired gently and she met his knowing gaze with a sharp inhale. She'd forgotten he could read her like a book and was surprised he still could after decades of hiding behind the dark thing she had become. "You may think that I don't know you now, but your eyes always did give you away, my love."

Regina gave a shaky exhale, tears trailing down her cheeks now as she nodded slowly, "I do...I wasn't supposed to. I didn't intend to. My heart was always with you, but...It felt so good to have someone care for me again and I couldn't stop myself. I am sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for, Regina-" He said as firmly as he could, squeezing her hand so that she'd continue to look at him, "I always wanted you to be happy. Even if it was not with me."

"He's gone now...gone to me at least," Regina shook her head and swiped at tears, the feeling of talking to Daniel about David making her control crumble. "It's over and I have you back now-" She added and attempted a smile through her blurred vision.

Daniel watched her with a knowing expression that made her stomach sink and dread fill her. Like he knew they did not need to voice the doubts they both carried about how this would end. Like he knew she needed him to live with her in denial a little longer while she regained her strength. "I will always be with you, Regina. No matter what happens."

"You promise?" She swallowed at the knot in her throat and she watched him nod. Anxiety filled her when the physical pain he felt flickered across his face. She knew he was growing uncomfortable once more when he glanced at the tray on the nightstand he knew held his potion.

"I think I'll have that tea now, my love."


	6. Chapter 6

"I can't let go of my past-" Regina marched into Hopper's office and slammed the door shut behind her, feeling momentary relief that it was only him she found inside. In her rashness she hadn't considered he may be with another client before she barged in and blurted out something so personal. She stood in the middle of the room and eyed him, trying to catch her breath after power walking most of the way here in hopes she could relieve some of the building tension within her. Archie looked surprised at her sudden entrance but straightened in his chair and put down his pen as if he were waiting for her to continue. _So she did_. "You were right. I haven't let go of my past. I brought everything with me here. Even _someone_ from my past. I can't let go of it...I don't know how to let go of it...especially now."

"Please, have a seat-" Hopper nodded towards the chair in front his desk.

Regina frowned and put her hands on her hips as she glanced between him and the chair, hesitating last minute on whether or not to go through with this. She'd sworn she wouldn't come back here and told herself it was useless, but she had nowhere else to turn. "Don't you have other appointments?"

"Not until this afternoon," Dr. Hopper replied evenly, watching her like he knew she was looking for a reason to back out of her impulsive decision to show up.

"Don't you have to prepare for them?" Regina shrugged stubbornly and crossed her arms, "Besides, wouldn't you have to pull my file and review your notes from last time before you know what to say to me? Isn't that why you have to schedule these appointments? So that you can get your little _hope_ speeches prepared?"

"I don't prepare speeches for my patients, Regina," He answered her with no trace of annoyance, giving her nothing to latch onto in order for her to leave in a huff. She hated that she could never seem to get an angry reaction from the bug lately. His placid nature didn't allow her to rile him up and deflect from her own issues like she normally could with others. "I have time for a walk-in appointment."

"I don't even know why I came-" She remained where she stood, jaw clenching as she shifted on feet that wanted to carry her out as quickly as she came. "It's not like you can do anything to help what is happening right now-"

"I could try-" Hopper suggested and shrugged. "...And if I can't do anything to help your problem, I can at least listen..."

Regina felt the turmoil twist her stomach and travel up her chest in the form of anxiety, causing a knot to tighten in her throat. She was truly overwhelmed and hadn't felt this inept since she was a heartbroken eighteen year old cradling a lifeless body in her parent's stables.

"He's back-" She felt the words begin to spill from her and she dropped her arms from their crossed position, running one hand through her hair as she looked away from him. "Daniel. Whale brought him back to life and he's...he's not himself and I can't...I don't know what to do. The heart in his chest is reacting with his mind and he sometimes loses control. I found a potion that helps calm him but I don't know how much longer his mind will remain strong enough to fight what his heart is doing to him. And the...the heart Whale used, I think it's dark... _very dark_. Daniel loses all traces of himself when it takes over and I never know when it may start to happen-" She let out a gasp of emotion and exhaustion when she let herself make eye contact with him again, "I am losing him again and he is all I have left."

"Regina, I'm so sorry-" Hopper replied gently and she would've screamed at him if she thought it came from a place of pity. Instead his expression seemed sincere and empathetic and she could only swallow roughly when her throat constricted. "The memories this must be bringing back for you and the pain of the current situation has to feel overwhelming."

"You think?" She grit out tersely but her voice wavered despite her attempt to seem callous. "What do I do? I can't give up on him. I can't let him down again."

"Let him down?" Hopper questioned and Regina could only glare at his inquisition. _Logically_ she knew that asking questions was a part of his useless profession but she was not used to anyone wanting to know how she felt. No one had ever wanted to share her burden except David and that was only due to the curse. He didn't care about her feelings in reality and rightfully so.

"I was the reason he died. My mother killed him because he loved me," She admitted and gave a weak shrug, biting back the grimace of pain the memory caused.

"Your mother killed Daniel?" Hopper asked with barely contained shock, his eyes widening briefly before he reined in his reaction. "Regina, please sit down and let's start from the beginning."

She glanced again to the chair in front of his desk and her heart began to sink, the heaviness in her chest prompting her physical need to sit down. Before she made the conscious decision to do so she rounded the chair and sat, clasping her hands anxiously in her lap to keep from fidgeting. _Where did she even begin? Had she ever told her full story to someone? Would he still want to help her once she had?_

"I'm not here to judge you. Only to listen. I can help you more if I know how we got to this point," He explained carefully. "Nothing you say here will leave the office. No matter what happens. You have my word."

"Why do you want to help me? Weren't you on Snow's council that decided my death was the only way to stop me back in the Enchanted Forest?" Regina snarled at him, bitterness churning in her stomach as her mind procured last minute reasons to retreat from this conversation. "I cursed you, manipulated you into helping me when Emma came into town, and caused most of the problems people in this town come to see you over. Are you working with someone against me?"

"I can assure you I am not working with anyone. I simply want to help," Archie frowned then and glanced down at his desk briefly. "I have witnessed you in both realms, Regina. I knew of the crimes you committed in the Enchanted Forest and the unrelenting lengths you went to to bring Snow White pain. It wasn't until I heard you speak what you thought would be your last words before your execution that I realized you were merely a human being in unspeakable pain," He paused with a knowing look at her before continuing. "And during this curse I have seen a different side of you. You came to me for help when you were unable to conceive and we discussed what having a child meant to you and your decision to adopt Henry. I've seen the mother you are to him and I've seen the wife you are to David."

Regina narrowed her eyes at him, feeling her skin getting hot at the mention of David. Hopper knew she loved her son, but touching on the subject of David made her instantly feel exposed and vulnerable. "My _marriage_ was simply a part of the curse."

"I think in the beginning it was, but I have observed you with him over the years. You gave me a doctorate in psychology. I can tell when people are unhappy and struggling, but I can also sense when they are genuinely happy and truly in love," Archie added cautiously, meeting her gaze and raising his hand in a silent plea for her to remain open-minded as he seemed to know it was dangerous territory. "I have seen the change that being loved made in you and it helped me understand that it was what you were searching for all along. That feeling of loving someone and being loved in return. It's what was taken from you that prompted your quest for revenge, is it not?"

" _Well_ if you have me all figured out then what else do I need to say?" Regina replied, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. "Let's skip the recap and get to you telling me how to fix it."

"The only way to move forward is to work through it, Regina-"

"That still doesn't answer why you want to help me-"

"Because I know there is more to you than the Evil Queen that everyone sees," Archie looked at her genuinely as he spoke and she felt her emotions resurface. No one but Daniel had treated her kindly since the curse was broken and even his moods were faltering. "I know you want to redeem yourself for Henry and I want to help you work through your past so you are better equipped to be who you want to be for him. I want to help you show others who you truly are beneath the mask of the Evil Queen. You may have cursed me, but in it you gave me a successful practice and a respectable position in the community. You even gave me Pongo..." He raised an eyebrow in emphasis. "I was on your enemy's counsel, yet you still provided me stability and a companion. You gave nearly everyone in this town a life of contentment in a modern realm that was much safer than the land we came from. That doesn't seem so evil to me."

"So you want to know my story just to _help me_ ," Regina stared back at him skeptically, studying his expression and body language for any hint of an ulterior motive. "Everyone that has ever promised to help me has done the opposite. Why would I trust you?"

"You have your magic back. You have the ability to do away with me should you ever regret telling me anything or should I break your trust," He nodded. "I am putting just as much trust in you and your desire to change by getting involved and offering my help."

Regina troubled her bottom lip between her teeth as she stared at him blankly and considered it. Deep down she knew he was a fair and kind person. He felt the need to help people even before she brought him to Storybrooke and gave him the doctorate in psychology. She couldn't believe such a foolish profession existed in this modern realm when she was creating the curse, but it seemed a good fit for a cricket with good listening skills and crippling empathy. Never in a million years did she think she'd seek help from his expertise in _feelings_.

"My mother would consider your profession an exercise for the weak-minded," Regina looked at him frankly, not knowing where to begin and saying the first thing that came to her mind as she toyed with trusting Archie's offer. "She had no tolerance for anyone who wasn't able to compartmentalize and even less patience for displays of emotion. Some of my first memories of her were being scolded for crying or seeking comfort as a small child. It was _unbecoming of a lady."_

"She never comforted you as a child?"

"Comforted? No," Regina shook her head with a contemplative frown and stared towards Archie's desk as she thought back. "Mother wasn't a hands-on parent and more strict in her discipline. I knew from a very early age that she was to be obeyed."

"Would you consider her discipline to border abusive?" Hopper asked and she felt her irritation spike.

"Just because my mother was a strict disciplinarian does not mean she was abusive," She found herself becoming defensive though she wasn't sure why. Her mother was extremely harsh and overbearing, but was she truly an _abuser_? "She was that way with me because she wanted the best for me."

"In her discipline was she ever cruel?" He asked and she met his gaze with a clenched jaw.

"Define cruel..."

"Let me put it this way..." Archie's stare was unwavering as he spoke and she avoided eye contact with him uncomfortably. "Would you use your mother's methods of punishment on your own son?"

"Absolutely not-" Regina grit her teeth immediately and sat up straighter in her chair. "If you are suggesting that I mistreat my son-"

"I am not suggesting that, Regina," He replied in his irritatingly calm manner. "If your mother were here, would you let her help raise your son in the same manner in which she raised you?"

"I would snap her neck if she touched a single hair on Henry's head-" Her tone came out fiercely protective and she crossed her arms, pushing her shoulders into the back of the chair.

"What was it about her parenting style that you would forbid her to repeat with Henry?"

"The only way I knew how to be a mother was to do the exact opposite of what Cora did, but would I call her an _abuser_?" She rolled her eyes and gave a bitter chuckle. "Trust me, I went on to know what a true abuser was after I left my mother's home."

"Let me rephrase that, then. In what ways does your own parenting style differ from your mothers? What did you choose to do differently with Henry?"

"If you really must know," Regina gave a roll of her eyes at what a waste of time it seemed. "I would never deny Henry comfort. I could never just let him cry in his crib or push him away when he clung to me. Regardless of what how exhausted I was between work and being a single parent, I would always pick him up when he wanted to be held and give him attention whenever he asked for it because it upset me to see him upset. I disciplined by taking away games or lecturing him, but I would never resort to anything physical. Even if he got himself into trouble I would try to save him from the consequence while my mother would often create the consequence. For example, Henry knew he wasn't supposed to climb trees, but when I would catch him doing so I would help him down safely. My mother would've snapped a limb with her magic to make me fall and teach me a lesson."

"She would discipline you with physical harm?"

"At times," Regina nodded once, squaring her shoulders and refusing to let her inner turmoil show. "She would only strike me when her own temper spiraled out of control. She preferred to constrain me as she knew that bothered me more."

"Constrain you?"

"She would lock me in my bed chamber mostly," Regina averted her gaze to the wall behind Archie. "Other times she would use her magic to summon belts to strap me down so that I could not move my limbs. If I had been especially defiant she would constrain me with belts and then lift me in the air and leave me as she knew I was scared of heights."

Archie was watching her with compassion in his eyes when she met his gaze and he took a deep breath before responding, "If it were your son instead of you that she did this to, would you consider it abuse?"

"I..." Regina paused and cleared her throat, her eyes glossing with tears at the mere thought of Henry being treated in such a way. "Yes I would, but Henry could never deserve such a thing. He is perfect."

"You think you deserved the way your mother treated you?"

"I think that being myself was not enough to please my mother and she wanted me to be more."

"Would you ever manipulate your son into being something you wanted him to be?"

"I did manipulate Henry," Her tears threatened to spill now and she dug her fingertips into her crossed arms in an attempt to remain stoic. "I made him think he was crazy for believing. I used my mother's tactics to try to get him to stay with me. To try to keep him like a prisoner. Even before the curse started breaking he thought I was too strict with bed times and screen time and no sugar rules."

"Regina, you and David told Henry he was adopted as soon as he was old enough to understand. Instead of keeping the truth from him you were honest and you brought him to me so that he could talk through anything he felt he couldn't speak to you or David about. You did everything right. As for the bed time and screen use and sugar rules," Archie gave a hint of a smile, "That is simply structure that every child needs and nothing you should let him guilt you for. You only reverted to your mother's style of manipulation when you were threatened with the curse unraveling and losing Henry. Manipulating your child is never okay, but I like to look at the motivations behind people's actions. You were acting out of desperation at the thought of losing your son while your mother manipulated you for her own agenda. Those are two very different reasons."

"So you're saying the way I am now is all Cora's fault?" Regina deflected from gravity of his observation and forced a sarcastic smile. "That everything I've done since I was a child was because of her abuse and I should be forgiven? You know, that would make things a lot easier if I could blame Cora."

"I am not saying that you're absolved of accountability, but I believe you are letting your own actions in the years since blur the lines of what you have done and what's been done to you. Just because you went on to do dark things as an adult in pain does not make you deserving of the abuse you suffered when you were an innocent child. Or any further abuse, for that matter."

"What does it matter now?" Regina scoffed and shook her head. Her current level of self-loathing didn't allow her to feel any empathy for the young girl she had stored away and shielded with the Evil Queen for years. She wasn't sure that was a dam she'd ever be prepared to break.

"It matters.." Hopper nodded and leaned his arms on his desk. "You said Cora was the person who took Daniel from you."

"Yes," Regina grit out and stoned her expression. "When she accepted the King's proposal to marry me, I planned to elope with Daniel. My mother caught us before we could and she acted for a moment as if she might accept it, but it was only to get close enough to take his heart. She crushed it in front of me so that I would be free for Leopold."

"And then you were forced to marry him..." Archie listened, seeming to piece together the timeline. "How old were you?"

"I turned eighteen the month before I wed," Regina shrugged indifferently, looking around the office once more as she grew uncomfortable. "It was not a happy marriage. End of story. Now what am I supposed to do about Daniel being back?"

Archie hesitated for a moment before nodding, seeming to understand they had covered all of her past that she would allow for the day. "Daniel is staying with you in your home?"

"Yes," Regina glanced at the clock on the wall to ensure she had enough time before Daniel would wake again. "The potion is only a temporary fix. Tampering with life and death is...there's no real way to make it right. The enchantment spell I put on his body to bring him here preserved his mind. It is still strong enough to bring him back from the dark pull of the heart inside of him, but it won't last. I see him growing weaker against it each day and he seems to have less time as himself before the heart takes over and causes him too much pain to remain awake."

"Has he said what he wishes to do?"

"No," She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked back at Archie then, feeling tears finally spill over her lashes. "Sometimes I think...I think I can see in his eyes that he wants to give up. That he knows he'll never be able to be himself. Any fix I have found involved losing even more of who he was or would end up killing him. At times I think he is just holding on for me..." Regina admitted, voice cracking with guilt. "I have caused him so much pain by not being able to let him go."

"What do you plan to do?"

"That's why I'm here, so that you can tell me what to do-" Regina snapped irritably. "I know what I want to do. I want to keep him living for as long as I can and selfishly hold onto him. I want to give into the Evil Queen and use dark magic to make him physically healthy. Even if he would end up an evil version of who he once was. I would get to keep him with me and he would be like me. He would be someone like me who understands the darkness and wouldn't judge me for it..." She explained tearfully and then gave a bitter laugh at the notion. "But...I know that I can't...I can't turn him into what I am. I can't do that to him."

"I think you already know what you will have to do, Regina," Hopper replied and she avoided his kind eyes so that she didn't break down entirely. "Spend some time with him and discuss it with him. It is his decision to make and he needs to know you will accept whatever he chooses to do."

"I fear I am not going to like the answer he gives," She admitted with a small voice, choking back the sob that bubbled in her throat. Another glance at the clock on Archie's wall had her standing in just a few seconds, "I need to go."

"Thank you for coming today," Archie stood and she was thankful he did not argue her choice to leave. "I look forward to speaking to you next week."

"We'll see," She eyed him and took a deep breath. The only display of gratitude she could muster was a small nod of her head before she turned to exit the office as quickly as she had entered.

* * *

David found his feet carrying him up the path to his former home on Mifflin Street despite trying to talk himself out of it all morning. He had avoided reaching out to Regina since the first night she'd watched Henry but still thought about her constantly despite everything he juggled. His town was in crisis between the people in distress, George threatening him and now Billy's murder. Still David found he couldn't ignore the image of Regina being alone with a potentially dangerous man. A man he knew she still loved and would likely allow to hurt her.

He had an excuse for showing up at least, however shoddy it may seem. Being the only officer in town he had to investigate Billy's death and he needed someone to watch Henry. It had been enough reason at the time for him to hop in his truck and drive to Regina's, though his confidence began to falter as he cleared the front steps. _Why hadn't he just called?_

"Regina?" He called out after letting himself in front door and instantly regretted having done so. He was treating this house like he still lived there and didn't have to knock. She was living with another man and he was barging as if he was still her husband. _Idiot_.

"David?" He heard her question with an alarmed tone, making him turn and follow her voice to the entryway of the kitchen.

Regina stood at the kitchen island wearing an apron and an expression of surprise, spatula in hand while breakfast sizzled on the stove in front of her. She loved being in the kitchen and he could always find her there happily working on some new recipe she wanted them to try. It had been one of his favorite sights to see each morning and in the evenings when she made it home and started dinner before he could. The twinge of warmth in his chest soon turned into a sinking pit in his stomach when his eyes shifted to see a man sitting on the stool across from Regina. The very stool that David himself used to occupy. _His_ spot where he sat and flirted with her while he watched her cook.

" _Uh_ , sorry to show up unannounced-" He muttered and cleared his throat, seeing Daniel turn to look back at the intrusion. It was clear he hadn't thought it through before barging in and interrupting her domestic scene with her long lost lover. What would he have done if they had been up to more than _breakfast_? His entire body tensed at the thought of Regina having sex with him and he felt angry heat creeping up his neck as he tried to gather himself. "Can I talk to you?"

"Is it Henry? Is he alright?" Worry furrowed Regina's dark brows a she wiped her hands on the tea towel and turned the heat down under whatever she was cooking.

"He's fine-" David reassured. She loved Henry more than anything and he would never worry her over Henry's safety, _no matter how angry he was with her_ _._ He noticed Daniel watching their exchange and glanced at him before looking back to Regina for an introduction. Her wide eyes merely darted between the two men as if she'd entirely forgotten how to speak and David knew he'd have to break the silence.

"Hello, I'm David...I'm Regina's...I'm the sheriff here," He stumbled for words like an idiot and cringed at how he almost called himself her _husband_.

"I'm Daniel Colter. It's nice to meet you," Daniel replied but did not offer to stand and shake his hand which only served to make David dislike him more. He studied him as they stared one another down, noting the pale color of his skin before clocking the clothes he wore. Not only was the man living in _his_ house, sitting on _his_ stool and watching _his_ Regina cook him breakfast, he was also wearing David's clothes. His resentment reached it's boiling point in record time and he spoke before he could stop himself, "I would welcome you to Storybrooke but I see you've already made yourself at home."

"David..." Regina warned, rounding the counter in an attempt to lead him out of the kitchen but David stepped closer and stopped to glance between them both.

"What? You did know we'd have to discuss what happened to Dr. Whale at some point-" David replied pointedly before looking back at Daniel who sat with his hands wrapped around a mug of tea. His anger bubbled at the casual way the man remained seated, as if he found himself bored by David's presence.

Daniel at least had the decency to look somewhat remorseful at the mention of Whale and spoke up for himself then, "I do apologize for any harm I caused that man. As I'm sure Regina told you, I was not feeling myself at the time."

David smiled falsely at the weak expression Daniel gave and the way Regina looked at him with such empathy in her eyes. She moved a few steps closer to Daniel before glancing back at David with a frown, "Is that why you came here?" She asked defensively.

"No, _actually_ ," His voice was tight with irritation at the protective way she took over for the _monster_ sitting in her kitchen. "We had a murder in town last night. You two wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" He asked but looked directly at Daniel instead of Regina, feeling suspicious that his meek demeanor was an act.

"Of course he wouldn't. He's been with me," Regina's tone was dangerously low and she crossed her arms impatiently. "So you came here to interrogate us for murder?"

"Believe me if there weren't more likely suspects right now, I would be interrogating you," David shrugged at Daniel, "No offense, but your recent incident with Whale would naturally make you a suspect," He said before turning back to Regina, "And you? Well, I don't have to explain why you would be."

"If you could get to your reason for being here instead of being rude to Regina, we would very much appreciate it," Daniel spoke up firmly and David watched the man's hands tense around the mug he held as if he was losing his temper. _Good_.

"Well it's regarding _our_ son, so I don't think it's any business of yours-" David spat back at him, giving a cocky raise of his eyebrow. _Who was he to think he suddenly belonged back in her life after so many years had passed?_

"Our son? Interesting how that point is only relevant when it suits you," Regina said dryly, drawing his gaze back to her. "You said he was fine."

"He is, but I'll need to be out late doing this investigation. Can you watch him tonight?" David asked before throwing a glare at Daniel, "Obviously at my apartment. Not here."

"Yes," Regina replied sharply without hesitation. She was clearly not going to give him a chance to revoke the invitation to spend time with her son. "Text me when you need me to come over."

"You sure it's not interrupting your little reunion here?" He asked with a shrug and hated the way his jealousy roared inside of him at the thought of what they had been up to.

"No, of course not. Daniel knows how important my son is to me," Regina replied and turned to smile warmly at Daniel, running her hand over one of his that still gripped his mug. Seeing her touch him with such care made David's head want to explode which only infuriated him further. _Why did he care?_

"Can I speak to you privately for a moment?" He growled before stalking out of the kitchen and down hall that led to her study, stopping where he knew they'd be out of earshot.

The sound of her footsteps followed him just moments after and he spun around to face her, "You can't be serious with all of this," He motioned towards the direction of the kitchen, "How will you explain your live-in _boyfriend_ to our son?!"

" _My live in boyfriend_ -" Regina repeated and let out a breathy laugh as her eyes widened, "Oh _no_ , I am not taking a parenting lecture from you when you're about to have your _wife_ back. Not to mention I am doing everything you ask of me when it comes to Henry and I am keeping my promise to him not to use magic. I will not be lectured by you about who I spend my time with when you took my son and _left me_."

"I came back and you practically forced me to leave so you could find this guy! How do you think this will look to Henry? We've barely been gone five minutes and you've already moved Daniel in to play house like me and Henry were never even here! He's wearing my clothes for fuck sake!"

"Is this truly about Henry's feelings?" Regina entire expression changed with the simple question as she stepped dangerously close to him and tilted her head up to smirk defiantly. "Or is that a little jealousy I'm sensing, David?"

"You wish," He glared down at her unflinching, watching the way her dark eyes sparkled with anger and that hint lust that he'd become an _expert_ at spotting over the years. She seemed to have caught on that his reaction to Daniel was not all about Henry and he hated the power it gave her, feeling the need to taunt her to deflect from it. "What's the matter, Regina? You have the man you always thought you wanted back, but you still want _me_ between your legs?"

"I think we both know that it is quite the opposite," Regina locked dark eyes with light blue, exploiting the tension that lingered between them. He wanted her as much as he wanted to hate her and she wore a smug grin at his jealous outburst. "It's driving you crazy isn't it? Knowing he is here in our home," Her voice lowered to the husky tone she reserved for whispering filthy words of encouragement in his ear. "...in our bed enjoying me while you are all alone."

"I won't be alone for long. I'll have my wife back soon enough-" He forced a triumphant smile. "My _one true love_ ," He added, twisting the dagger as far as he could out of spite.

"Then why are you still so angry?" She mocked innocently as her gaze traveled to his lips before lifting back to his eyes. "Is it because you know deep down that even when she returns you're still going to think of me when you fuck her?" Regina gave a catlike grin, "I don't envy the situation you're in, David. I know what it's like to be in a marriage that requires you to fake it."

David wanted to put his fist through the wall beside of her but he pressed his hand flat against it and leaned closer to her instead, "I do imagine your marriage to Leopold lacked in the bedroom department given his age, but at least I handled you properly for a few years," He watched her breath hitch as he paused, bringing their faces inches apart and giving a hint of a lusty smirk, "Don't worry, Regina. It's only natural that you miss it. You want me to give Daniel pointers? Tell him about that spot on your neck? That place you like me to bite on your inner thigh? Or that you come in record time when I reach my hand around to stroke you while I take you from behind-"

"That's enough," Regina's neck flushed pink and his gazed traveled down to her breasts at the way her chest heaved. He was half hard between their argument and the thought of being inside her but it was worth it to turn her game around on her.

"I'll text you later," He eyed her for a few moments longer and hated himself for explicit memories of her that flooded his mind. Snow was in another realm trying to get back to him while he was having heated arguments with their enemy. _Their enemy that he couldn't seem to leave alone_. An audible breath escaped him as he tore his gaze from hers and turned on his heels for the front door. _This visit had clearly been a mistake._

* * *

Regina cursed the uncomfortable sofa in Snow's loft, shifting from where she sat staring blankly at a note on the coffee table. David left with a brief muttering that he'd _be back later_ as soon as he'd opened the door and Henry was already in bed. There had been nothing to do but wander around the drab apartment judging Snow's decorative choices and letting her own thoughts consume her. She'd attempted to make herself comfortable enough to rest when it grew late but the scribbled paper on the coffee table had only thrown her once more.

David had left a note for her and she didn't know what to make of it or if she was an idiot for even giving it a second thought. It was something he used to do that ranged from reminding her of Henry's school assembly to something as _foolish_ as telling her he loved her, or letting her know where he was when work called him out at night and he didn't want to wake her. She didn't know how much time had passed as she sat on the edge of the cheaply upholstered sofa and studied the stupid gesture that was making her feel entirely too vulnerable.

He'd written her name at the top, followed by a number for the station in case his cellphone died and she needed to reach him. _Like she didn't know his work number by heart._ Then there was the brief scribbling of ' _tea bags in the far right cabinet and kettle on stove'_ that made an odd, almost homesick feeling flood her chest. She always drank tea at night to help her unwind and David even made it for her most nights during their marriage. It was part of their routine and she slowly began to realize that it was indeed homesickness she felt, but it was not for a place. _She was homesick for him._

Something as silly as him being thoughtful enough to mention her tea was a stark contrast to their recent interactions and the hint of kindness made her ache. She hated the way she brought the worst out in him now but he'd pushed her so far earlier that she had taken the bait and retaliated. It was clear he was angry that she appeared to be getting her happy ending with Daniel after tearing his life apart. She knew he wasn't jealous but the way he reacted had given her the perfect opportunity to accuse him of it and she used it just to irk him.

Letting him think that she and Daniel were living in domestic bliss had been easier than admitting the truth. Her pride wouldn't allow her to let him know what was really happening. Not to mention the fact that she did not know what Daniel's fate held. It was best she kept David thinking the worst so he would not try to get involved in her mess. She didn't have the capacity to deal with her feelings for David and Daniel at the same time.

Things between them had become so toxic and the constant harsh words had allowed her to stifle how much she missed him. She was able to ignore how much she craved _her_ David when he was acting like such the opposite. Now, _with a simple stupid note_ , he gave her a glimpse of the man she fell in love with and she longed to seek comfort in him once more. Losing Daniel when she was young devastated her but what was happening now somehow felt worse.

Her relationship with Daniel was a young and naïve love cut desperately short. He was the first person who took an interest in getting to know her, but they weren't granted the opportunity to be together long enough for their relationship to evolve. Losing him left her dreaming of what their life could have been and she spent years grieving the love and family she'd imagined they'd have. The cruelest twist yet had been him returning as she'd dreamed of and now losing him _again_ before they had time.

With David there was nothing left to imagination and it hurt all the more. She knew how good they could be together because she _lived it_ for years. The curse gave her a partner for the first time in her life and she felt what it was like to truly have someone. They'd been through the giddy newly-married phase and times when they did nothing but irritate one another. They quarreled like stubborn idiots and learned how to compromise when it mattered. They spent countless nights fucking each other senseless and just as many spooning under covers. They went through the heartache of infertility treatments and the headache of the adoption process. _They raised a son together._

Having all of these firsts with David only to lose him felt even more gut-wrenching because she now knew the entirety of what she lost. Being with Daniel back then had given her a glimpse of what love could be like, but being with David allowed her to experience _everything_ it had to offer. The idea of never sharing those moments with him again left her feeling hollow inside and she didn't know to move on.

The sound of Henry's whimpers pulled her from her thoughts and she tilted her head to make sure of what she heard. She stood quickly when he mumbled louder in distress and made her way across the loft to the bed where he tossed and turned. Seeing him upset had always made her so in return, prompting her to sit on the edge of the bed and reach to wake him.

"Henry, Henry wake up-" She put a hand on his shoulders and gently squeezed, not wanting to scare him anymore than the nightmare had already. He seemed to recognize her voice and jolted awake, scrambling to sit up and reach for her as he panted to catch his breath. "It's okay, you're okay-" She said in the same soothing tone she had used so many times before.

"What are you doing here?" He frowned and shook his head as he scrambled to compose himself, pulling back his arms that had initially reached for her. "Where's David?"

The question felt like a dagger to her heart but she forced herself not to seem hurt by it, "He got an emergency call and asked me to come sit with you. He told me you'd been having nightmares..." Henry only gazed back at her with uncertainty and she thought briefly he may accept her comfort, "It's okay-" She reached for his hand but he yelped and jerked it back.

Her first thought was that he had been rejecting her touch but she quickly recognized the pain in his expression and watched him grip his wrist. An angry red blister marred the side of his palm and she ignored her initial reservations to touch him, motherly instinct taking over as she grabbed his wrist to look closer, "Is that a burn?!"

* * *

David felt past the point of exhaustion as he let himself into the loft in the early hours of the morning, squinting in the darkness to try to get the right key. He managed to get the door unlocked and stepped inside, being careful not to make noise as he noted only the dim light over the stove was on. He took off his jacket and gun belt to hang them up by the door, glancing over his shoulder briefly to see where Regina was.

He sucked in a quiet breath when he spotted her curled up on the sofa under a throw blanket, prompting him to take a few steps towards the living room area. She looked so peaceful and soft when she slept, the sight of it always filling him with the need to protect her from the world. There was a vulnerability hiding behind her tough exterior and it was easier to spot when she was fast asleep. This was _his_ Regina and he didn't know how to separate her from the person he'd found out she was.

During their marriage he always felt lucky to experience the side of her she reserved for he and Henry. He loved being married to the mayor that intimated most with her intellect and unapologetic boldness because he had seen all of her imperfect human moments. He'd witnessed her stifle tears on Henry's first day of school, had watched her burn pancakes to a crisp, had given her pep talks when she was nervous for big meetings and even watched her throw a tantrum when she couldn't find anything to wear. Knowing who she was with her guard down was like being chosen to be part of a special, well-kept secret and it had made him feel ten feet tall.

David couldn't help but watch her from the end of the sofa, his exhaustion and overwhelming feelings allowing him to ignore how inappropriate it was. He wasn't her husband anymore and gazing at her while she slept could result in a fireball at his head if she woke, but he gave into the nostalgia tugging at his heart and allowed himself to forget reality. He studied her features and the way her body curled, knees drawn towards her chest and hands tucked under her head. She had snuggled up to his back in this very same position countless times during their marriage. When he felt her burrowing into him for warmth he would _always_ roll over and wrap his arms around her small frame to protect her from chilly night air. Even in her sleep she would let out a soft sigh of contentment when she felt him cuddle her body to his and nuzzled her face against his chest in response. _God, he missed it._

A sense of longing made his chest tighten and his throat began to ache with unshed tears that he tried to swallow down. All he wanted was to lay down and pull her to him and tell her about the day he had. She always had a way of helping him solve whatever problem he faced and he was drowning now that he no longer had her as his sounding board. What did he do when the one person he wanted to face this nightmare with was the same person who caused it? The person who lied to him for so long. _The person he should hate for it._

He sat down gently on the opposite end of the sofa and propped his elbows on his knees, threading his fingers over the back of the neck as he hung his head and tried to relieve the tension there. The thought of her moving on with Daniel had made him sick since he found out and fighting with her had only served to torment him further. She was always in the back of his mind, even when he had an entire town full of problems to solve, and he didn't know what to do with it.

"David?" Regina asked softly, squinting in the dark as she lifted her head to see him sitting with his own head in his hands. He was close enough that if she stretched her legs her feet would touch him and she swallowed thickly at the nearness.

"I'm sorry," He murmured quietly, turning his head to the side as he let his hands fall to hang between his knees. She merely blinked in response, her sleepy and confused expression not allowing him to harden his demeanor towards her in the way he had been for weeks now in order to keep her at arms-length. "I didn't mean to wake you..."

"Is everything okay?" She whispered, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position at his defeated expression. She didn't know when he'd gotten home or how long he'd been sitting there but she knew something was wrong from the moment she'd opened her eyes. He expressed himself so physically and his body language had always been her first give-away to his mood.

"No," He admitted with a heavy sigh and stared down at his hands as he threaded his fingers together, forearms resting on his knees. "George framed Ruby for the murder of Billy to get the town to turn on me."

"What?" Regina's lips parted in surprise and she moved to sit straighter but refrained from running her hand over his shoulders like instinct urged her to. _Like she used to_. His defenses were down and he was acting so much like _her_ David that she couldn't help but fall back into their old dynamic and want to share his burden. _Even if it was only for a moment_. "What happened?"

"He planted false evidence...made her think she did it when she transformed at night-" David nodded and kept his gaze on his hands. Dealing with Ruby's emotional turmoil hit him too close to home and he found himself drawing parallels in a way he shouldn't be for his own sanity. "She hated that part of herself because she thought she had hurt another person she loved. I just...I had a feeling though that it wasn't her. I know her...and I kept thinking that even if it had been her that...she couldn't help what she became. That she just needed someone to believe in her so she could control that part of her."

Regina stifled the longing she felt to wrap her arms around him in the way she would've before the curse was broken. To comfort him like she had before when his work affected him emotionally and the day had taken it's toll. It didn't help that his empathy for Ruby was exactly what she longed for him to extend to her. "Were you able to prove it was George? Is Ruby all right?" She forced herself to stay on task and not explore his thoughts on Ruby's struggle any further. He would never consider her a flawed human who deserved a second chance and it would only hurt more to hope he could see past the Evil Queen.

"George is in jail now and Ruby is fine. She's...more than fine. All it took was me believing in her," David bit down on his bottom lip as he turned his head to the side to look at her once more. Her dark eyes watched him with such concern and he could tell from her expression that her defenses were as absent as his own. She sat facing him with one leg crossed under her, leaning forward at an angle that hinted her desire to comfort him was equal to his own desire to receive it. "It's just..." He began the sentence but hesitated. _If he asked her now, would he get a truthful answer? Would she finally tell him if any part of their marriage was real for her?_

"Just?" Regina studied his expression with bated breath, her mind scrambling to make sense of where the conversation would lead.

David locked gazes with her and remained silent as the war waged between his heart and mind. She looked so open and trustworthy and vulnerable. This was the woman he had shared his life with. The woman he fell in love with. Was it possible that she could be both the enemy he knew and the woman he loved? Could it really be that she was a complex, messy mixture of the two? Could she be _his_ Regina again if she had someone who believed in her? He didn't know where to begin or what to ask or if it would do any good at all to know. He choked back the emotion that fought it's way to the surface as his gaze dropped to her hands and he failed to articulate anything meaningful, "...it's just been a long day..."

Regina's breath hitched when his hand reached over to cover hers in her lap. His warm grip encompassed her smaller hands easily and his fingers clasped under her palms as he gently rubbed a thumb over her knuckles. She was sure her heart stopped beating momentarily and all she could do was stare as warmth rippled through her at the intimate gesture. "Everything..." She paused and quietly cleared her throat when her voice cracked, "-everything will be all right, David..."

"You think so?" He asked, his own tone was thick with emotion and he searched her eyes desperately for anything to signal this was real.

She gave a slow nod and felt a tear slip down her cheek as she broke eye contact and looked down to where his hand held hers. Her mind and body screamed at her to cave and throw herself in his arms. To beg him to come back to her. To confess how much she truly loved him and admit that their marriage was real to her. "Yes," She replied instead and kept her gaze lowered as she fought for control. Logically she knew that David was exhausted and had no one to turn to. It was easy for him to slip back into this dynamic with her because she was familiar. If Snow were here it would be her he would seek comfort in and she could not let herself fall into this trap.

David felt the sting of rejection as soon as she began to slip her hand from his grip. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to overstep...I'm just tired," He muttered as his own hand treated back from her in response and he looked away once more.

"I know, but there's something we need to discuss," Regina watched him recoil and forced herself not to reach back out for him. Letting him be kind in his moment of weakness would only lead to him reverting back once he realized what he had done and his harshness would hurt worse. She reminded herself that their son was more important than whatever was happening between them and she knew he'd want to know what happened sooner rather than later.

"What now?" He sighed in defeat.

"Henry had a nightmare, but this time he had a burn when he woke up," Regina watched his head snap up to look at her and she nodded reassuringly, "He's okay. He's fine. I bandaged him up and I...I called Gold for help."

"You did what?!" David whispered, wide eyes searching hers for an explanation. His look of disbelief and distrust in her was already back and she knew then she'd made the right decision to shift the direction of their conversation.

"Gold knows more about this curse than anyone," She explained, disheartened but not surprised at the incredulous stare he gave her. "I was scared...I didn't know what was happening to Henry but I knew from the burn that it wasn't just nightmares anymore. Gold said it's a side effect of the curse...a world in between worlds that people return to once they wake up."

"Dear god," David frowned deeper, panic gripping him at the thought of their son in danger. "What do we do? How do we stop it?" He began to spiral at the news thanks to his exhaustion but Regina held up her hand for him to let her finish.

"Gold gave him a necklace for protection...it will let him control himself in these dreams so that he won't be hurt," She explained further, trying to sound reassuring even though she was just as worried as David was while hearing the news for the first time. "I listened to him for hours after he fell back to sleep tonight and he hasn't had any more incidents."

"And Gold? What is he getting out of helping Henry?" David's expression hardened then and Regina felt her stomach sink. There was hint of accusation in his eyes that told her he was remembering once more that she was the cause of everything happening to them. "You should've come to me before you involved Gold with our son."

"He said he did this for Henry and that he doesn't expect anything in return," Regina replied quietly and felt the steel walls in place between them once more. "I can assure you that I don't take Henry being in danger lightly and I will make this right," She added, guilt coloring her tone for being the cause of pain to someone she loved. _Like always._

"I'll let you know if he has any more nightmares," David replied shortly, avoiding her eye contact as he pressed his mouth against his clasped hands and stared blankly into space.

Regina watched him for a long moment, seeing that his mind was racing and he was already lost in thought. There was no talking to him when he was in a mood like this and she didn't have the right to comfort him even if she could. She untangled herself from the throw blanket and stood from the couch but he still did not glance her way. "Try to get some sleep," She murmured quietly before seeing herself out in heavy silence.


	7. Chapter 7

Regina came back to consciousness with a gasp, suddenly feeling the pain and soreness radiating throughout her body. She blinked away her blurry vision when she opened her eyes, grimacing as she tried to determine which part of her body was the source of the pain. Bits and pieces of the night came back to her, filling her stomach with dread as she remembered how she had ended up on her kitchen floor the night before.

She'd come back from David's apartment later than anticipated, so preoccupied with her inner turmoil over their conversation that she'd forgotten just how long she'd been gone. Daniel's rage filled expression greeted her in the dark foyer, with eyes devoid of any recognition of her or his surroundings. It was instantly clear that the potion she used to sedate him had long worn off and the dark heart inside of him had taken control.

Her heart ached along with the rest of her body as she began to push herself into a sitting position and take inventory of her injuries. She was able to move without any searing pain, ruling out broken bones and internal injuries, but certainly feeling the soreness and bruising her body sustained from hitting the floor. The emotional agony she felt after experiencing yet another one of Daniel's violent episodes was considerably more painful than anything she felt physically.

Unlike the times before, nothing she had said or done brought him back to consciousness. The darkness of the borrowed heart inside of him had a strong hold and she suppressed the urge to throw up at the thought of what it meant. Too much time had passed while she was searching for a cure and the evil in the heart had infiltrated his mind, likely to the point of no return, effectively erasing the Daniel she loved.

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she scooted herself back and gingerly leaned against the counter behind her, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. She glanced around the kitchen, seeing the contents of her counters strewn across the floor, recalling how she'd ran from him in an attempt to escape his rage without using magic. He was much taller and faster than she was, quickly closing the distance between them. The last thing she remembered was him rounding the kitchen island in their chase and grabbing her by the arm. She'd seen his other hand drawing into a fist, realizing he intended serious harm, prompting her to release a bolt of magic at him out of sheer desperation. It hadn't been strong enough to truly harm him, but enough to make him lose his grip of her arm and send her falling backwards until her head met the hard floor and everything went dark.

The house was quiet now as she listened for any signs of him and her mind began to race when she pulled herself up from the floor, seeing her front door wide open and swinging on it's hinges from the morning breeze. Panic tightened her chest at the possibilities of where he could be or who he might've harmed as she did a quick lap around the downstairs to check for him. Her body screamed at her as she made her way up the steps, hoping desperately that she'd find him somewhere in the mansion and be able to sedate him with magic so that she might be able to regain control of the situation.

Her heartbeat pounded loudly in her head and her anxiety skyrocketed as she found every room upstairs vacant. She had failed to keep Daniel from harm yet again. He was out there somewhere, not in control of himself, either scared or in a fit of rage that would put himself and everyone else in danger.

* * *

Adrenaline rushed through David as his truck slid to a stop in front of the stables and he jumped out of the driver's seat. He spotted Regina's BMW speeding down the road just seconds behind him as he ran inside of the building. She had called him, almost too upset to understand, and explained that Daniel escaped the mansion. He'd been immediately concerned, but his concern grew into panic when she told him that Daniel might be at the stables looking for her. The exact place he'd left Henry earlier to care for his new horse.

He heard the horses neighing in distress, running as fast as his legs would allow down the aisle to the stall where Henry was. Terror gripped him when he saw his son dangling in the air by Daniel's grip around his neck.

"Let him go!" David commanded firmly despite the fear that gripped him, reaching to pull his gun from his holster. David's presence seemed to jolt Daniel out of his trance for a moment and he dropped Henry, staring blankly back at David.

He used the moment to pull Henry up from the floor while Daniel remained stunned, "Are you okay?" he let out the breath he'd been holding, glancing his son over as Henry nodded yes, "Go!" he said urgently, nudging the boy to take off running out of the stall.

Daniel was staggering towards him with a wild expression when he turned back to the stall, already too close for David to have time to pull his gun. He lunged forward with hands outstretched towards his neck, prompting him to grab the other man's forearms in defense. They struggled against one another's grip until his unsteady gait allowed David to slam him back against the stable wall.

Daniel's head hit the wooden wall with a thud and he blinked back at David, ceasing his struggle against him as the rage in his eyes turned to confusion, " _She_ -" the man stuttered, eyes screwing shut for a moment in what appeared to be pain before opening again, " _she_ -"

"What?" David frowned, keeping him pinned against the wall even though Daniel's struggling had lessened considerably. Instead of being enraged and fighting, he seemed to be trying to say something through a streak of crippling pain.

" _She...lo_ -" Daniel choked out before groaning in agony with another wave of whatever pain he experienced, "- _ves...y-you_."

David didn't have time to process what the man was saying, losing grip of his arms when he violently jerked in pain against the stable wall and his eyes opened again. The darkness in Daniel's gaze had returned and his face contorted in rage as he snarled and stumbled to stand straight once more.

David used the moment to step out of the stables, grabbing the metal door and pushing it shut as he felt Daniel start to slam his body against it from the other side. He glanced up then to see Regina running towards him with a terror filled expression as he struggled to keep the man contained.

"Henry?" She breathed out the question of their son's safety and David nodded quickly.

"He's outside-" David panted, keeping his hands pressed against the door and pushed the latch shut, "-but you need to cast a spell to subdue him. This door won't hold for long."

"No, I won't use magic on him-" Regina's brows furrowed quickly as her chest heaved, looking between David and the sounds coming from the other side of the stable door.

He felt himself begin to snap, anger bubbling within him that she'd refuse after the man had put their son's life in danger. He glared at her, reaching for his gun and pulling it out of the holster, using his free hand to reach for the latch.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Regina screamed, clawing at his arms to keep him from opening the door.

"He's a monster, Regina! If you won't put him down, I will!" He yelled at her, anger and betrayal clouding his temperament that she would choose this man over he and Henry.

"Please!" Regina cried out then, tears filling her eyes as she looked at him, panicked and pleading. "Please just let me talk to him, David!"

"It's too big of a risk, Regina. He could kill you!" He yelled, begging her to see sense. She was completely out of sorts over this man and seeing it was shaking David to the core. He'd never seen her act so desperate or unhinged, appearing to be reliving whatever trauma had taken Daniel from her in the first place. She wasn't thinking clearly and he pushed her back from the door for her own safety but she clung to him, not allowing herself to be pushed away.

"No! I won't let you hurt him! He'll listen to me!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face as she shoved on his shoulder, refusing to back down, "Please. Let me talk to my fiancé-" She begged with vulnerable brown eyes so desperate that they brought David from his rage.

Regina loved this man so deeply that she spent her entire life avenging his death and David could see in her expression that she knew this was her last chance. He swallowed the knot of anxiety in his throat at the thought of letting her face Daniel's violence before he nodded once, realizing that he couldn't bring himself to take this moment from her.

"I'll be right over here," He said firmly, letting go of his hold on the door as he backed up out of sight, standing in front of the stall next to the one that held Daniel. He wasn't going to take her last chance away, but he wasn't going to let anything happen to her either.

David watched as she opened the stall door, seeing the heartbreaking smile she attempted to give the man she loved and feared. She suddenly looked so young, like she'd been transported back in time, and it made David wonder just how young she was when everything happened. Daniel stepped out of the stall towards Regina then, seemingly entranced by her presence.

"Daniel..it's me-" Regina said in a voice that sounded so small and innocent that David could barely tell it was hers. The other man seemed to recognize her momentarily, slowly reaching a hand up to her face as if he were going to stroke her hair before it stopped near her neck.

"Daniel, stop-" She pleaded with a strangled breath when Daniel grabbed her throat, prompting David to pull his gun once more. "It's me, it's Regina-" she choked out and he released his grip of her neck with a gasp just as David raised to aim.

"Regina...I'm sorry-" Daniel said breathlessly as he came back to himself, prompting Regina to step up closer to him. David watched anxiously as they embraced, waiting for the man to switch back at any moment.

"It's all right, you're all right-" Regina murmured before Daniel's shoulder hunched in pain and he let out a groan of agony, stumbling back from her as his face contorted.

"Stop it, stop the pain-" he pleaded when his eyes opened once more and he cupped her face, "-let me go."

"No," Regina's voice wavered, "No, I won't lose you again," she cried, gripping his face as he began to twitch in pain once more. "Daniel come back to me-"

"I can't-"

"But I love you-" David heard her whisper, hating the turmoil it caused within him.

At that Daniel glanced past Regina, making eye contact with David briefly before looking back to her as he cupped her face, "Y-you...can love...again."

David's finger returned to the trigger of his gun once more when Daniel stumbled back, the darkness visibly taking over him again. He moved to the side so that he had clear aim as lifted his gun, watching Daniel take a step towards Regina. His heart raced, knowing that he would do what he had to protect her and that she'd hate him for it. He squinted to take aim as Daniel's hand came up towards Regina, prepared to take him out for her so that she didn't have to do it herself.

Purple magic flowed from the trembling hand Regina lifted in front of Daniel's, causing him to freeze in place before David could intervene. He heard a sob escape her as she waved her free hand over him and her first love dissolved into thin air. She muttered something he couldn't quite hear, leaving David unsure of how to approach her. He was sure that she'd forgotten his presence and would likely want to make him disappear as well when she realized what he'd witnessed.

"Mom?" Henry's strangled tone caught his attention, seeing Henry slipping back into the stables from the opposite end where he'd been hiding. David could see the boy was barely holding it together after the trauma he'd experienced himself and just witnessed his mother go through.

Regina lifted her head quickly when she saw him and let out another visible sob that made her shoulder shake, "Henry-" She breathed out tearfully and the boy began to run to her at the acknowledgement that he was still welcome to.

She fell down onto her knees and caught him in an embrace when he threw himself at her and buried his face in her neck. David heard them murmuring to each other, asking if the other was okay, forcing him to swallow the lump of emotion fighting to close off his throat. It had been so long since he'd seen Regina and Henry on good terms and he knew how they both suffered since the unraveling of the curse pulled them apart.

Despite how Henry rejected and distanced himself from Regina, David knew that he still loved her as his mother. He'd watched the boy deny his feelings over it since this whole thing began, believing that it was what he had to do. David understood the tug of war between Henry's moral convictions and emotions all too well. Nothing was ever as black or white as it seemed, despite what he or his son or any other hero tried to tell themselves. The truth was that life happened in the gray area in between, where feelings and flaws and humanness came into play. Where his own inner turmoil between his cursed life and reality existed, thundering within him during moments like this when he felt so desperately torn between the two lives.

"We should go," David said tiredly as he took a step towards Regina and Henry to make his presence known, seeing them both look up at him with teary eyes. Neither one of them spoke, seeming to still be processing everything that had just happened, allowing him to continue, "I'll drive us back to the mansion and we can get your car tomorrow after you've had some rest," he took the lead, allowing himself to slip back into the role of husband and father momentarily. Despite the current circumstances, he'd been Henry's father and Regina's husband for years and today they'd been through something traumatic and needed him. So he pushed reality to the back of his mind, pretending that it had everything to do with his duty rather than his own troubling desire to be a family with them once more.

"We're going _home_? All of us?" Henry asked as he swiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand. David caught the relief in his son's eyes when he nodded, knowing the boy hadn't wanted to separate from his mother but didn't want to voice as much.

"If that's okay with your Mom-" David nodded once, biting down on his bottom lip as he watched Regina stand.

She looked up at him with an expression that he couldn't quite decipher. It was soft, like the look she used to give him before crawling into his arms and accepting his comfort, but mixed with hesitancy and a hint of fear. He gazed back at her and nodded once, as if to say he understood if she chose not to cross this line.

They'd been at each other for weeks and he had been cruel to her out of hurt and anger in an attempt to stop wanting her. She looked at him now like she was mirroring his thoughts, like she had been just as hurt by the dissolution of their marriage. He hated himself for feeding the idea that she had any real feelings for him, but then she nodded her head and pulled Henry into her side to begin walking out to his truck, leaving him confused once more.

David stood still for a moment as they walked ahead, his chest tight with emotion and his head feeling like it might explode. How had he so easily slipped back into this role for her, the woman who manipulated and used him and separated him from his family? When would his heart finally agree with his mind and stop feeling so drawn to her? Drawn to take care of her, to protect her, to be near her.

" _She loves you_..." Daniel's broken sentence echoed in his mind, his brain finally having a moment to piece it together. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The man wasn't himself and couldn't have known what he was talking about, could he? Then again, Daniel had seemed rather lucid when he had made eye contact with him before telling Regina that she could love again. He shook the thought away quickly, forcing himself to remember that it was all a part of the curse. He had to stop reading too much into things and letting himself get derailed from what he needed to do. He had a wife and daughter to get back.

* * *

"Will you lay with me until I go to sleep? Like you used to?" Henry asked after Regina had tucked him in and began to turn for the door. She paused in her tracks, the simple request threatening to make her burst into tears once more. The day had emotionally drained her and the unexpected kindness from her son made her fragile heart ache at the knowledge that he may be starting to forgive her.

"You want me to?" she swallowed at the lump in her throat, blinking back the tears that threatened to come when she turned to his bedside once more.

"Can we just pretend for tonight that things are like they were? Before the storybook," he replied quietly, ducking his head as he reached to turn the side of the covers down for her to get in.

"Of course," Regina said with a shaky tone, loathing herself for what she had put her son through. She crawled into bed beside of him, bringing the covers up over them both.

"Are you sure you're okay after today, sweetheart?" she asked and blinked back tears when he leaned into her side. He snuggled against her as she wrapped her arm around him, resting her chin on his head and reveling in the feeling of being close to him again.

"Yeah, it was just scary-" he said quietly.

"I'm so sorry that it happened," her voice wavered as she brought a hand up to run over his hair soothingly, "I would never want you to be in harms way. You believe that, don't you?"

"Yeah," he murmured, face pressed against her shoulder, "-but I was more scared that something would happen to you and...that...that I wouldn't get to tell you that I didn't really mean all of the mean things I've said..."

Regina felt her throat constrict tighter with emotion, forcing her to swallow hard before she was able to speak. "You had every right to be upset with me, Henry. But I meant what I said...I'm going to make things right. I want to redeem myself."

"Dad said Daniel was your first love-" Henry implored quietly and his head tilted back to look up at her, "And that he was brought back by Dr. Whale..."

"That's true," Regina nodded, giving him a sad smile. "But he wasn't the same person when Whale brought him back. He would never have dreamed of harming you had he been in his right might. He was kind and gentle, nothing like the man you met. You would've liked him."

"But if you loved him how did you end up marrying the King like in the book? Why didn't you marry Daniel?" Henry looked up at her curiously and Regina could see that he was trying to make sense of it all. He was perceptive for his age and even though he had believed in the book, she could see he was starting to sense there was much more to it.

"I wanted to marry Daniel more than anything," Regina nodded and smiled weakly, running a hand over Henry's hair, "...but he was our stable boy, and my mother wouldn't allow it and arranged for me to marry the King."

"So you didn't want to be the Queen?" Henry implored, wheels turning behind big curious eyes.

"No, I didn't," she averted her gaze from him briefly, gathering herself for whatever he asked next. She had never anticipated her son knowing the ugly truths of her past, but he deserved her side of the story. At least then he could draw his own conclusions. "I saved Snow from a runaway horse one day. The King heard about it and came to offer marriage and my mother accepted on my behalf."

"Is that why you hated Snow? Because you didn't want to be with the King?"

Regina hesitated as she thought through how to respond. She wanted to be as honest as possible with him, but also shield him from being burdened with too much for his age. She bit back her distaste for Snow, forcing herself to remember that she was Henry's family. It wouldn't be fair to her son to fill his head with her own resentments against his grandmother.

She nodded once, smiling weakly down at Henry, "I blamed Snow for ruining my life. For not being able to marry Daniel and being forced to be Queen. I was angry and the darkness ate away at me until I felt like revenge was the only thing I had left."

"And what about Daniel? Couldn't he do anything about it?"

"Daniel passed shortly before I married the King," Regina reached up with her free hand to swipe at the tear that slid down her face, "My grieving was what sent me to such a dark place."

She was relieved when Henry didn't ask how Daniel died, not wanting to have to tell him what a monster her own mother was.

"The book leaves out a lot of stuff, doesn't it?" Henry muttered, sounding as if he were speaking more to himself than to her.

"It does..." Regina smiled weakly, "-but the path I chose and the things I did were still wrong. I am sorry that I've put you through this, Henry. That I wasn't better for you."

"I know you can be good. You always taught me right from wrong-" Henry toyed with the necklace Rumple gave him as he spoke, "You just need someone to believe in you."

She had to stifle the emotion that tightened her throat once more, resting her chin on his head gently, "I won't let you down again. I promise," she murmured before seeing him tuck his necklace back under his shirt, "Have you had any more dreams since you've started wearing that?"

"No, not yet," Henry replied, yawning tiredly as he started to slump against her more when his body began relaxing with sleep.

"I'll keep my door open tonight so I can hear you in case anything happens, alright?"

"Mmm'kay," he mumbled, words slurring as his eyes closed.

"Goodnight, Henry."

"G'night, Mom."


	8. Chapter 8

David sat at Regina's kitchen island, sipping a bourbon he'd poured once they got home and she took Henry upstairs. He let out a breath as he leaned his elbows on the counter, bowing his head to relieve the tension in his neck and run a hand through his hair. Everything there was as he'd left it, even down to the placement of his favorite bourbon tumbler, and it stoked the turmoil inside of him.

It seemed like every inch of the home had a memory attached to it and the day's events had drained his ability to ignore them like he had before when he barged in angrily. He sighed and reached down to pick up the glass, swirling it around as he studied his initials etched on the side. It was yet another inanimate object in the mansion that took him back and he let himself slip into the memory of when she'd gifted it to him.

_"Happy birthday," he could hear the smile in her tone when she came up behind him and slipped a perfectly wrapped box on the counter. She stood behind him where he sat on the stool, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning against his back._

_He chuckled softly and scooted his coffee mug out of the way, feeling her arms squeeze his torso, "I told you not to worry about buying me anything," he smiled when he felt her rest her chin on his shoulder._

_"You should know by now that I don't listen to you, Husband," she joked and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "Well, aren't you going to open it?"_

_"I can't decide..." he hesitated, turning his head to the side to smirk back at her._

_"Decide what?" her brows furrowed in an adorably worried way._

_"Which present to open first-" David grinned playfully, reaching behind him and tugging the tie of her robe loose as he turned around on the stool to face her, "Mmm, looks like I made the right choice," he groaned as her robe parted and his eyes feasted on her bare skin._

_"There's a toddler upstairs that will wake soon, if you've forgotten," Regina smirked but made no move to stop him, laughing instead when he gripped the fabric of her robe and pulled her to stand between his parted legs._

_"Hmm-" David glanced at the silent baby monitor on the kitchen counter before he leaned in to kiss her slowly, slipping his hands under her robe and running them over her bare hips, "He's still fast asleep. Besides, it's not my fault. I can't think straight when I know you don't have anything on under there."_

_She gave a breathy laugh when he peppered kisses down her jaw to her neck and pulled her closer to him, his hands running mischievously over her ass, "I guess it wouldn't be right to deny your birthday wishes-" she smirked and tilted her head to the side, letting her eyes close briefly at the way he kissed her neck._

_"Definitely not," David hummed against her skin, making her yelp and then laugh in surprise when he suddenly gripped below her bottom and lifted her up to straddle his lap._

_"This could get dangerous," she grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging to him as she balanced herself on his lap._

_"Don't worry," he gave her a cocky smile, swiveling the stool and sitting her up on the counter in front of him with ease. Her eyes darkened with lust and she gave him a magnificent grin when his hands traveled up her calves to her knees and slowly spread her legs, "I just wanna make sure my gift is properly unwrapped."_

_"Let me help you," Regina nodded breathily, leaning back with her elbows on the counter and spreading her legs wider._

_"Fucking hell, Regina," David growled as her parted robe fell to her sides and displayed her perfect body, making her smirk at his reaction to her shameless behavior._

" _Oh_ \- you're still here," Regina's statement startled him out of the memory and he quickly looked up from his whiskey glass. He cleared his throat in an attempt to gather his wits, seeing her near the kitchen entry looking equally surprised by his presence.

"Should I go?" David frowned slightly and downed the rest of his drink, sitting the empty glass on the counter. Their current reality was such a stark contrast to the memory he'd been reliving and it jarred him all over again.

"Since when is that up to me?" Regina avoided his gaze, making her way over to the counter where he'd left the bourbon to pour herself a glass. "You chose to leave. I didn't force you to."

"Well, not the first time, but you did the second," David shrugged, not being able to stop her coolness from getting under his skin. He had offered for he and Henry to stay there so she could be with her son and wasn't alone after the day she had. _Why did she still feel the need to be confrontational?_

"Is this why you told Henry you'd come here tonight? To rub salt in my wounds?" she asked with her back to him, picking up her bourbon and taking a healthy sip.

"No, actually," he frowned as he noted how stiff her posture was while she refused to turn and face him, "I thought that after what you and Henry went through today that you'd want to be together."

"That still doesn't explain _your_ presence," she replied as she turned around with the whiskey tumbler in one hand and a bitter expression, "-or am I only allowed unsupervised visits when you're busy trying to get your family back?"

"Are you serious?" David scoffed bitterly and shook his head, "We're back to this now? We could've lost Henry today to a violent man that _you_ brought to this realm, and you want to pick a fight with me?!"

"Forgive me, but we haven't exactly been on the best of terms recently. Surely you can understand why your sudden _consideration_ throws me."

"My mistake. I thought after losing your first love for the second time that you might be experiencing the natural human emotions that would evoke-" he rolled his eyes, "I forgot who I was dealing with."

"Third time."

"What?"

"That was the third time I've lost Daniel. Whale attempted to bring him back to life using the heart transplant procedure back in the Enchanted Forest just a few years after he died," Regina explained, forcing it all out before the emotion could catch up with her. She was exhausted, mentally and emotionally. She mourned Daniel, she felt guilty for what Henry had been through, and she was angry with David for pretending to be concerned. "What I'm wondering is why you care? You've made it clear that you don't believe me capable of real feelings or emotion. You hate me for what I've done, so why are you here?"

"Again, I thought you and Henry should be together tonight and I didn't want you to be alone," David grit out, leaving out his confusing feelings for her as he pushed the stool back and stood, "-that you would be upset. Like I said, I didn't consider who I was dealing with."

"Oh, so you were afraid I'd do something rash - go all _Evil Queen_ on the town since my heart was broken again?" Regina smiled bitterly and downed the rest of her liquor.

"For gods sake, Regina, I thought you might need someone! You lost someone you loved all over again and no one should have to go through that! Not even the Evil Queen!" He snapped at her, losing what was left of his tattered patience.

"I don't need your pity!" She replied sharply, her eyes glittering with anger and unshed tears, "I don't need you to pretend to care what I'm going through out of some heroic duty, just so you can throw it back in my face later. Don't pretend that you'd give me a second thought if your precious wife and daughter were back!"

"Forgive me for not knowing proper post-curse etiquette-" he said sarcastically, glaring back at her. She had a way of working him into a rage in record time and he was too tired to stop the words from coming out of his mouth. "Tell me what I should do, then! _Please_ , I'd love to know how to detach as easily as you have. Then again, you always knew this was all a lie. I guess it would be easier for you."

"Easier for me?!" she let out a sharp, humorless laugh, "Of course, _Charming_. I'm having the time of my fucking life here."

"It's not like I can tell what's actually going on in that head of yours-" he said angrily, rounding the counter to stand in front of her, "One minute you act like you may actually have remorse for what you did to me and the next moment you're throwing it in my face. Not to mention you said you wanted to redeem yourself for Henry, but you harbored a man that could've killed him today!"

Tears threatened to spill over her lashes as she slammed her glass down on the counter and stepped closer to him, "You think I don't hate myself for putting him in danger?!"

"You should've told me what was going on here," he replied firmly, staring her down as his chest heaved with an angry breath, "You made a promise to Henry. What good would it be if you weren't around to keep it? That monster could've killed you!"

"I've dealt with worse _monsters_ ," she snarled through clenched teeth, keeping her gaze locked on his defiantly.

"I wasn't talking about magical beasts you've slain back in the Enchanted Forest, Regina-" he snapped sarcastically.

"Neither was I."

He stared at her for a moment, caught off guard by the simple response and the haunted look in her eyes. The part of him that still felt like her husband made him want to ask her to elaborate. There was so much he didn't know about her past and her insinuation made his stomach turn. _What exactly had she been through to leave her so broken?_

David's temples pounded and his heart ached, shaking his head slowly after a few seconds of silence between them. He was beyond exhaustion at this point, tired of living with the constant emotional turmoil. The same turmoil he saw reflected in the whiskey brown eyes that met his gaze now. He was desperate to believe them. Desperate to believe she was struggling as much as he was.

"I'm so tired of this-" he shook his head, taking a step back and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I didn't ask you to be here-" Regina's jaw was clenched when he looked back up at her, seeing a tear slide down her cheekbone, "Henry can stay while you get your wife and daughter back."

"They're not coming back, Regina!" he admitted, his voice cracking as he looked away from her in defeat, "When Spencer framed Ruby he burned the hat. There's no portal-"

"What?" The edge was gone from her tone and she looked genuinely shocked when he turned his gaze back to her.

"I wouldn't even have enough fairy dust to activate a portal if I had one-" he shrugged, leaning back against the counter behind him and pressing his hands against the edge.

"Why didn't you tell me that night?"

"Tell you that you've torn Snow and I apart again indefinitely? While you were going home to your first love?" he rolled his eyes, "-I didn't know the extent of what was going on here. You led me to believe Daniel's issue was manageable and that the two of you were together."

"It wasn't like that. He was ill and not himself. He was sedated most of the time-" Regina confessed and he hated the sliver of relief he felt at the knowledge she hadn't been physically intimate with Daniel. _He shouldn't care at all._

David watched her for a long moment, studying her expression as he processed their conversation. Her usually squared shoulders seemed to sag with the same sense of defeat he felt himself and he sensed her walls were slowly lowering.

Her lips parted and her throat visibly constricted before she spoke again, "I do...feel remorse for what I did to you. I am sorry for lying to you, but..." she hesitated and her breath hitched softly, "-but I'm not sorry for the time we spent together. I was happy."

His heart felt like it was in a vice grip as he processed her words, trying to determine what exactly she was confessing, "Happy because you got your way with the curse...or happy with me?"

Regina swallowed at the knot forming in her throat and her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. Her emotional exhaustion had allowed the words to come out before she'd known what she was saying and now the panic hit her. She felt suddenly aware of their close proximity as she stared back at him while he watched her intently for her answer. Her eyes shifted away momentarily and she cleared her throat, looking back to him when she'd gathered herself enough to reply, "What does that matter now?"

"It matters-" David's jaw twitched as he looked down at her, pressing her with his gaze. He knew they were both aware of what it was he was asking her, but that neither of them had wanted to approach the subject. The trust wasn't there anymore and to admit to real feelings would be giving the other power.

"It doesn't-" she stared up at him, trying to be firm and ignore the suffocating tension. "The reality is that you're married to Snow. You know you won't stop until you get them back-"

"Damn it, Regina-" he muttered, seeing her completely shut down. The walls were back up, all traces of vulnerability gone, leaving those haunted eyes staring up at him.

"I should go back up in case Henry starts having the nightmares again. The guest room is available if you insist on staying," she replied, her voice even and devoid of all emotion. He watched her silently as she slipped past him and made her way out of the kitchen into the foyer.

It felt like she had been so close to answering the question that had been tearing him apart, but ended up leaving him more conflicted than he felt before. _Was she confessing to having feelings for him by saying she was happy during the curse? Or had she meant that she'd been vindicated by taking away Snow's happiness? Did she mean to insinuate that their marriage became real for her or was she being intentionally ambiguous? Was it a game to keep him confused and distracted?_

He hated himself for even giving it a second thought. He knew the facts. Regina lied to and manipulated him, used him as a pawn for her own revenge. She'd shown him her true colors and yet he was still seeking out what he wanted to see and believe out of her. Snow was in a different realm, yet all he could think about was if Regina reciprocated any of the feelings that tortured him now.

It was pathetic and he knew he had to get it under control. He was being a poor excuse for a hero. He had a duty to Snow. She was his _One True Love_. He should be trying to find her and their daughter and destroy anyone who tried to stop him. Not getting caught up in his feelings for a woman that were fabricated by a curse. Not letting himself give up on his family so easily. His feelings were irrelevant and would fade with time. Once he got Snow and Emma back everything would fall into place. It had to.

* * *

Regina had barely slept the night before. She'd gone to bed panicked over what she'd almost confessed to David. Then by the time she had showered and crawled into bed, everything that transpired with Daniel hit her and she finally allowed herself to let out those emotions. She'd cry herself to sleep only to dream about him and wake again, then lay in silence trying to distract herself from it. Her thoughts would lead to David being on the other side of the wall in the guest room and she had to force herself not to go to him for comfort.

For years now he'd been her safe place. He was the one who listened to her thoughts and fears and problems. He'd talk her through everything or simply hold her, depending on which she needed. She'd never felt so safe or reassured than in David's arms and she craved it now so much it hurt. Knowing he was under her roof and that she couldn't seek him out only compounded the loneliness and longing she felt.

However restless, she made it through the night after falling and remaining asleep in the early morning hours. David and Henry were still in bed when she came downstairs so she started making her son's favorite breakfast in hopes he would stay just a little while longer. She had started to worry that Henry would come downstairs and hate her all over again. That the kindness he showed her the night before would be gone.

Thankfully the worry was a short lived and she smiled to herself as she watched him beside of her now, making a mess of the stove with his determination to flip the pancakes. He'd come down shortly after she did, seeing her getting out the ingredients and excitedly offered to help.

"Dang it," Henry sighed in frustration when he turned a pancake and found it black on the bottom.

"It's okay, you're getting better," Regina encouraged with a smile, abandoning the eggs she whisked to step over to him at the stove, "There's actually a trick to it. Once you pour the batter into the pan, you watch the top of the pancake and when little bubbles start to form, then it's ready to turn. Try again."

"Okay," he nodded, brows furrowed in concentration as he discarded the burnt pancake and grabbed the batter, pouring some more into the pan.

Being near him and getting along like they used to was exactly what her weary heart needed right now and she knew she should be grateful to David for considering that. He was the last person who should be thoughtful of her feelings and yet he had been. It was so typical of the man he was. Kind and caring and good. _Even to the Evil Queen._

"It worked!" Henry grinned widely when he flipped the pancake after a few moments to reveal the perfect golden brown side.

She laughed softly at how proud he was and nodded, "See, I knew you'd get the hang of it in now time. Now we'll need a few more. You know how many you and your Dad can wolf down," she added teasingly.

Henry laughed himself and went to work on the next pancake, "How'd you learn to cook? Didn't you have servants and stuff growing up and when you were Queen?" he glanced at her curiously.

"That's right," she nodded and went back to whisking the eggs as they chatted, "I didn't know anything about cooking until Storybrooke..."

"Really? But you're so good at it. When did you start?"

"Well it wouldn't been a year or so after the - uhm, after we came here-" she nodded, "Your Dad and I were living off of Granny's. Which was fine for me, I only got salads, but you know how he is. He goes for the burgers just like you-" she glanced at Henry playfully, "-and he was just as hopeless of a cook as I was. I didn't want him eating unhealthy diner food three times a day, so I bought a cookbook and taught myself."

David watched them from the side entry to the kitchen, biting his bottom lip at the conversation. Seeing how patient and loving she was with Henry softened him, but hearing her say she'd learned to cook for him had his chest feeling warm. She'd gone out of her way to teach herself something out of concern for his well-being.

He'd come downstairs with every intention of telling Henry they needed to get back to the loft and put some space between himself and Regina. But now after watching them and hearing what he had, it felt considerably harder.

"Did you burn pancakes at first, too?" Henry asked Regina.

"If I recall correctly, quite a few of those first meals were... _well done_ ," David said jokingly as he made his presence known and walked further into the kitchen.

Regina looked up at him with a startled expression and he noted the dark circles under her eyes that she'd attempted to cover with makeup. He hated the way she appeared to brace herself for an attack in his presence before realizing he was joking. The smile she gave him then sent a pang of guilt through him and made him wonder how he could have ever been so cruel to her as he had been.

For a moment they both seemed to forget their current reality and let themselves live in the past. She looked tired but the smile was a sweet and honest one that rose to her cheeks and shone out through warm eyes. It was the same one she used to give him when he'd tease her, back when he would follow up those jokes with a bear hug and a reassuring kiss. Henry's laugh at David's statement brought them both back to the present and Regina turned her gaze to their son.

"What are _you_ laughing about?" she scrunched up her face, smiling playfully at him.

"Nothing-" he smiled and then glanced up at David, "Dad, get the plates out! We made pancakes and bacon and eggs."

"That's...quite the feast," David nodded as he stepped further into the kitchen, working on rolling up the sleeves of his flannel to his forearms. He'd had every intention of leaving as soon as he came downstairs and now he didn't know how to act. It all felt so familiar and Henry looked so happy.

"You both always used to wake up starving, so I just thought before you go-" Regina shrugged in an attempt to explain herself and glanced up at David briefly, finding it hard to make eye contact with him after what she'd said the night before. Besides, she didn't want him thinking breakfast was her way of getting them to stay longer... _even though it had been_.

"Thanks, it looks great," David nodded, sensing the awkwardness them. He hated that he made her feel so on edge after everything she'd been through the day before and he knew he probably threw her with his teasing. They could barely speak a few sentences to each other without fighting lately and suddenly he was cracking jokes about the early years of their marriage? _Idiot_ , he scolded himself. "I'll get the plates."

"Go where?" Henry looked up from flipping the pancakes, glancing back and forth at Regina and David as he questioned her previous statement.

"Uhm, well-" Regina glanced at David awkwardly, seeing him turning from the cabinets with the plates and an equally confused expression. She took a breath and looked back to Henry reluctantly, "I assumed you and David would be going back to Snow's loft today."

"I don't want to go back to the loft-" Henry mumbled and looked down at the stove, setting the spatula aside in sudden disinterest of cooking.

"You don't?" David frowned slightly as he set the plates on the counter, watching his son avoid looking at them, "We've been staying there for weeks now...why don't you want to go back?"

"Because..." Henry looked up, glancing between them as if he logically knew why they all hadn't been living under the same roof, but didn't want to accept it, "-because it's not our house, this is our house. All of our stuff is here, Dad. And-" his voice trailed off as he glanced up at Regina and swallowed hard, silently acknowledging that he missed his mother as well before looking back at David, "-besides, being there just reminds me of Snow and Emma and it makes me feel bad that we haven't found them."

David let out a long breath in the silence that followed, seeing the way Regina diverted her gaze towards the counter at Henry's mention of Snow and Emma. He knew exactly how Henry felt. Being in the loft felt out of place and it wasn't home for them. Their time spent there was consumed with finding his wife and daughter and the guilt that came when they continuously failed. But being here at the mansion with their family photos on the wall and their clothes in the closet and the smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen and the sight of _her_ barefoot at the stove, _that_ was home for them and it had been for years now. It wasn't an easy feeling to shake.

"Henry, it's a little more complicated than that-" David said hesitantly, not knowing exactly how to respond.

"Mom, don't _you_ want me to be here?" Henry turned to her with a frown, all traces of his usual maturity snuffed out by a child that desperately wanted some normalcy in his life.

"Henry, of course I do-" Regina's heart sank and she swallowed hard.

"Then why don't you tell him we should come back home-" Henry's tone was slightly pleading now as he looked up at her, "We don't know how long Snow and Emma will be gone for. So why can't we just all stay here like we used to while we figure things out?"

Regina's mouth opened slightly but nothing came out as she stared at his pleading expression. She wanted nothing more than to tell him he could move back in but she swore she was going to redeem herself and starting a custody battle with David was not going to convince him she was trying to change. Besides, Henry made it clear he wanted David to stay as well and she had no clue how to respond to that.

David saw Regina look to him speechlessly, her expression beckoning him to step in and break up the moment. He knew they were still unsure of how to be in the same room together, let alone live under one roof again with their son. They certainly weren't ready for a conversation like this in front of him.

"Your Mom and I will talk after breakfast," David spoke up, causing Henry to look at him as his mouth opened to protest, "Henry, that's enough. I said we'll talk after breakfast," he replied firmly, not giving him a chance to argue.


	9. Chapter 9

"Did you say something to him?" David's question escaped his mouth like a shot fired, causing Regina to set the dirty dishes she carried down on the kitchen counter abruptly.

Her eyes darted towards the foyer and she remained silent until she heard Henry's bedroom door shut, "You could barely wait until he left the room to start in on me-" she sneered, "-what a show of restraint, _Dear_."

"Answer my question," he demanded and pressed his lips into a firm line, clenched jaw twitching with irritation. He knew he wasn't approaching this in the right manner, but he couldn't help himself. Listening to Henry chatter throughout breakfast like they had already decided to stay made him begin to question if she was behind it all.

"I'm afraid I don't understand your question," she snapped, unsettled by David's sudden shift of mood. Things had seemed _so normal_ , like they'd fallen back in time for a moment as they shared a meal with their son at the table. His harshness brought her back to reality like a sudden slap in the face, but the pain landed in her chest and made her heart ache.

"Did you put the idea in Henry's head that he should ask to stay here?" he questioned, staring her down from across the kitchen with his hands on his hips. He'd foolishly let himself slip into the familiarity of it all this morning, but the suspicion that she was playing him again had immediately jerked him back into defense mode.

"What?" she breathed out an indignant laugh and scrambled for a defense to cover how much the accusation bothered her, landing on a sarcastic smile, " _Oh no_ , you caught me and my elaborate plan to con my own child."

"It wouldn't be the first time you manipulated him," David shrugged frankly and felt a pang of guilt when her dark eyes gleamed with hurt. He knew Henry was struggling with how to feel about Regina, but he'd gone from calling her the _Evil Queen_ to asking to move back in with _his_ _Mom_ practically overnight and it made him wonder if she had planted the seed.

"If I was trying to manipulate Henry into asking to stay with me, I certainly wouldn't have told him to include you-" she snapped, voice tight with the emotion she tried to push back down. "I was under the impression he hated me until yesterday. I'm just as surprised as you are that he would ask to stay here."

He crossed his arms as he studied her expression, sensing after a moment that she was being truthful and starting to feel like a heel for attacking. He doubted her honesty in a lot of ways, but he'd realized that it was not necessary when it came to Henry. Her promise to her son was the one thing keeping her on the straight and narrow and he knew she was dedicated to earning Henry's approval.

Still, David's pride would not allow him to admit he believed her so easily or acknowledge that his attitude had been unwarranted, "Yeah, _well_ , he spent the whole of breakfast talking about us working on his tree-fort out back and playing board games and watching movies like we used to. Like we had already moved back in and that stupid storybook never existed."

"He's a child, David," she grit out in annoyance at how daft the man could be, pressing a hand firmly against the counter top in an attempt to ground her anger, "Breaking the curse may have been what he wanted, but the fun part is over now and his life has turned completely upside down. He may be angry with me, but at the end of the day he's just a little boy who wants the comfort of something familiar, like his home and his room and..." she trailed off, motioning between the two of them as she glanced away from his eye contact to hide her pained expression.

"-and his family as he knew it," David finished for her with a slow nod of realization, watching her refuse to look his way as his heart sank in his chest. Her body was rigid with tension and her eyes glistened in the way they often did now at the subject of Henry and he hated that he noticed. Hated the way it made him want to comfort her. He swallowed the urge to round the counter and pull her into his arms like he had so many times before, trying instead to focus on the problem at hand. "So, what are we supposed to do?"

"What should _we_ do? You know I would let him stay with me, but I was not allowed a say in the matter," she snapped, anger hardening dark eyes before they suddenly narrowed, "- _or was I right_? Am I only allowed unsupervised time with my son when you're busy trying to find _your_ _family_. Are you afraid of what people might think if they see you treating the _Evil Queen_ with a shred of humanity?"

"Oh, we're back to that now? Do I need to remind you that you lied to me for years? You made me a puppet in your revenge against Snow and separated my family. You lied to Henry and made him feel crazy. You lied to _everyone_ and yet _you're_ the victim?!" he let a bitter laugh escape him and shook his head in disbelief, "You don't get to play that, Regina. Especially when it's not just my life that you ruined. You cursed an _entire_ town! So _no_ , I can't just give Henry back to you and be on my way like nothing has happened. How do I know that you won't keep him from me? That you won't take off with him?!"

"Then why are we having this conversation at all?!" she growled, voice strained with barely contained rage after being reminded that she had no one to blame but herself. She had manipulated him and Henry and proved herself entirely untrustworthy. There was no argument that she could make for herself other than saying she loved them more than anything and just wanted their life back, but that was so clearly out of the question.

"You said it yourself, he wants some semblance of normalcy...I think we owe that much to him," David answered more calmly, hesitating for a moment at how simultaneously absurd and reasonable the idea was of them living together again. He knew the town would not be likely to understand, but his gut told him this was what Henry needed. It was probably the subconscious reason he'd wanted to accuse Regina of giving their son the idea and lash out at her for it in the first place. _Even when she hadn't_. "Like you mentioned, his world was ripped apart when the curse broke and he wasn't given a chance to process any of this until now. The least we can do is give him some stability while we figure out how to fix all of this."

"You're suggesting that the both of you stay here, _with me_?" her heart thundered in her chest and she tried desperately to mask her vulnerability with an incredulous stare. She watched David shift on his feet and glance down at the floor as if he were sentencing himself to prison at the thought of living with her again. It twisted like a knife in her gut to see him dread something that she wanted so badly.

"We both love him and want what's best for him," David lifted his head, forcing himself to meet her gaze again with a firm look. He hated the rejection he felt when her brow had arched in disbelief at his suggestion. He shouldn't care if she didn't want him around or if his living there again would be an annoyance. She was the reason they were even in the situation and this idea wasn't for _her_ comfort. "We need to put our own issues aside and make it work for him. I think last night proved he needs both of us right now and I haven't seen him as happy as he is this morning since before the curse was broken."

"...Your wife and daughter wouldn't like it-" Regina replied after a moment of silence, careful to keep the emotion out of her voice as she prodded. She couldn't help but wonder where _their_ family fell on his priority list compared to his family with Snow. Thoughts like those tortured her, kept her up at night, and it would be so much easier if she just _knew_.

"Right now I don't even know if they'll ever be back-," David shook his head with a defeated expression. His stomach turned at the memory of Spencer burning the magic hat and almost killing the man over it. He'd been so close to having all of the pieces needed to get Snow and Emma back. _So close_ to finding out if this turmoil he felt would lessen once he was reunited with Snow. Now he was stuck in the chaos indefinitely, being torn apart by two lives and failing the people in both of them. "...but my son is _here_ and needs something that I can actually provide for him. I'm not going to let my pride get in the way of that. What about you?"

Regina swallowed at the painful lump in her throat, blinking back the tears that clouded her vision. She _hated_ how weak she was for him. _Hated_ that he had such power over her emotions. _Hated_ how desperate she was for him to be there again and _hated_ that his suggesting it had nothing to do with missing her. She took a shaky breath and hardened her expression to hide how sickeningly vulnerable she felt. "Fine, but just...stay out of my way."

David rolled his eyes at her insolence, "I see we're off to a great start."

* * *

"You're back?" Archie looked at her with a hint of surprise in his expression after his office door opened.

Regina hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to explain her presence before she tilted her head in defeat, "I used magic," she admitted shamefully.

"Why don't you come in? Tell me what happened," he immediately stepped aside and pulled the door wider for her and she walked in without hesitation, fueled by her desperation to talk to someone.

She made her way to the couch across from his chair and sat down stiffly, looking around the room as she wrestled with where to begin. Annoyance bubbled within her when he took his seat and simply waited for her to begin, hating that he did not cave or cater to her mood. He expected her to make an effort and so she begrudgingly began, "I promised Henry I wouldn't use magic, but I used magic. That is the problem. You said that you wanted to fix me, _so_ , here I am."

"I'm not trying to _fix you_ , Regina. I want to help you heal from your past so that you can move forward," the man explained in an infuriatingly calm manner. His patient response was a reminder that he seemed to genuinely want to help and her usual routine of needling people until they gave up on her did not work with the cricket.

"Right," she let out a huff of breath through her nose and eventually met his gaze, " _So_ where do we start this time?" she waved an impatient hand between them and frowned. The idea of willingly opening up and sharing those inner most thoughts frayed her tightly wound nerves and left her on edge. It instilled fear that she would be manipulated or betrayed like every other time someone had claimed to want to help her. Coming here went against every self-preserving instinct she possessed. She felt like she could jump out of her skin at any given moment and so she focused on fidgeting with the hem of her pencil skirt instead.

"Why don't you tell me what happened that made you use magic? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, _yes_ , things are _perfect_ ," she rolled her eyes, not being able to stifle the snark that came out of her like a reflex. "Why would I be coming here if everything was _okay_?"

"Regina, I know you use sarcasm to deflect when you're feeling especially out of control-" he replied and her head snapped up, glaring at his accurate but incredibly bold statement while he continued, "-but I can help you more if you cooperate and actually tell me what is going on. This is a safe space."

She didn't realize how tightly she'd been clenching her jaw until it started to ache in that moment, prompting her to release it with a slow exhale as she averted her gaze. Carrying the burden of her pain alone was beginning to cause her physical pain and she needed someone to listen before the darkness consumed her. She knew Archie was the only one in the town willing to hear it and so she let herself start to crumble. "Daniel is gone."

"I'm so sorry," he said quietly, "How did it happen?"

"The dark heart was taking over more often, the potion was becoming less effective," Regina replied, voice gravelly with emotion as a tear slipped over her cheek, "He had an episode where he became violent and I couldn't escape him-" she paused, wincing painfully when her throat threatened to close and her tone wavered, "-he over powered me and escaped my home. I didn't come back to consciousness until much later and he, _uhm_...he-"

"Take your time," Archie encouraged when Regina's voice choked in and out, watching her struggle to regain control as she stared down at her tightly clenched hands.

She took a shaky breath and continued to avoid the shrink's gaze. She knew if she looked up and saw any hint of pity it would make her shut down entirely so she kept her eyes focused on the fabric of her skirt. "He went to the stables. I-I think he was looking for me, but he found Henry instead. David saved Henry in time, but it..." her voice cracked again and she swiped quickly at the wetness on her cheeks, "-could have been so much worse and I...I _hate_ myself for it."

"Regina, it isn't your fault..."

"Isn't it?" she met him with a hard stare, "I enchanted Daniel's body and brought him here because I couldn't let him go. Then when he showed up at my door tortured by pain, I kept him _barely_ alive with those potions because I _still_ could not let go. Even when I knew he was dangerous and that I wouldn't be able to save him. I selfishly made him keep living until he nearly killed my son," her words dripped with self loathing but she did not break eye contact, "And the worst part? It was Daniel's life that was taken _yet again_. He may have had the heart of a monster, but I _am_ the monster. If anyone deserved that fate, it was me."

"I think you're being incredibly hard on yourself over how you handled Daniel's return," the cricket replied and Regina gave a mirthless laugh but he still continued, "Seeing him again has undoubtedly triggered overwhelming feelings from your past. Witnessing your mother murder him would have been traumatizing for a fully matured adult, let alone a teenager. And from what I know of your story, you weren't allowed the time to grieve or process that trauma before you were forced into another traumatic experience."

"Traumatic experience?" Regina schooled her expression and calmly asked for clarification, feeling her walls go up at his statement. She was aware of what he insinuated, but wanted to gauge how much he had already picked up on. It was a defense mechanism she had perfected over decades of protecting herself against enemies and it gave her time to decide how to respond. "What is your point here?"

"You'd just lost your stable boy, the one you planned to spend your life with, and made to marry the King soon after," Archie spoke carefully, aware that the topic was like walking through a field of land mines and not knowing which step would set her off. "I don't know the details, but I would imagine a forced marriage between a teenage girl and a man his age would be rather traumatic, especially considering what you'd just gone through."

"I was made Queen," she shrugged with a rueful smile, deflecting his suggestion that her experience with the King was a damaging one. It had been incredibly so, but she was not prepared to face those demons when there were more pertinent ones currently at play. "Isn't being Queen that what every girl dreams of?"

Hopper shook his head knowingly, "But it wasn't what _you_ wanted."

"What I wanted was never important," Regina grit out, "Not to my mother, not to the King, not to anyone."

"Do you think that's why the Evil Queen always took what she wanted by force?" he asked.

She looked up at him with a befuddled frown, searching his expression for the judgment she expected to come with his statement. " _What_?"

"The Evil Queen was born out of a need to protect yourself from the pain and the people who had caused it. You just said that no one had ever cared what you wanted and that the trajectory of your life was not based on your own choices. Do you think that is part of the reason the Evil Queen was so determined to get what she wanted by any means necessary?"

"I don't know. _You're_ the shrink aren't you?" she squinted at him in a brief display of sarcasm to avoid acknowledging the astute observation.

"Well, we've only had a few sessions so I do not want to make any incorrect assumptions. I'm simply asking what you think," Archie explained, "I witnessed you channel the Evil Queen on the day you stormed town hall and took Henry. You think you are still _a monster_ , but you have expressed your guilt to me over how you handled that. Especially with your treatment of Henry."

"What's your point?" she snipped impatiently, aggravated by the roundabout way he was making his point. Her tolerance for abstract thought was low on a good day and this was not one of them. She preferred facts and absolutes and getting straight to the point _,_ which made the process of _therapy_ all the more challenging.

"My point is that you have changed. You reverted briefly when the curse ended because you wanted Henry back and the Evil Queen made it easier to do that. She has no morality or impulse control to keep her from simply taking him. While you, _Regina_ , had remembered patience and self control and regained your conscious during the curse," he paused and decided to change his approach at her clouded expression, "How did you feel in those years after losing Daniel that lead up to the birth of the Evil Queen?"

She frowned and stifled the urge to tell him this was a waste of time before she forced out her answer, "Helpless. Out of control. Angry. Heartbroken. _Weak_."

Archie nodded, "And I imagine that the curse breaking and losing Henry made you feel some of those same emotions?"

Regina nodded once, recognizing the parallel he drew for her, "You could say that," she muttered.

"That suggests to me that the Evil Queen's ruthless determination was born partially from your lack of autonomy over your life and your need to never feel that out of control of it again..." he watched her remain silent with a stubborn expression coloring her features. She wasn't entirely sold yet and so he decided to take a step back to explain the foundation of his theory, "I know that you have blamed a sole person for your unhappiness for many years, but I would encourage you to dig deeper into the layers between Regina and the Evil Queen."

"Dig deeper? Why would I need to dig deeper? Snow White told a secret that ruined my life and I went mad. I let the darkness consume me and I used magic for evil. I am my mother's daughter. It is not so complicated as you suggest," she rejected the idea, not feeling she deserved to unpack it. Living with what she'd done was her punishment and acknowledging her deep-seated issues felt like making excuses. She was a villain, _end of story_.

"I know you believe losing Daniel was what made you to self destruct, and while that's not untrue, I don't believe it's that simple... For example, you stated that you don't believe Cora was abusive, yet you admitted that you would consider it abuse if it were Henry, because he wouldn't _deserve_ it. For you to have considered yourself deserving of her treatment and that it was somehow your fault is a symptom of the low self esteem that abuse instills in a victim. Trauma during those developmental years can also lead to issues with controlling your emotions and heightened anger. Not to mention you lost Daniel when you were still developing mentally, at a young age when your decision making is ruled by emotion rather than rational thought. Adding this up leaves no surprise as to how you ended up on your dark path, in my opinion."

"I..." Regina stared back at him rather blankly as she processed the enormity of what he'd said. She'd gotten so used to living with the shame and guilt of her evil deeds that she'd forgotten she had experienced those feelings even when she was still an innocent child. Her mother's actions made her ashamed of magic and finding out she possessed it herself had made her feel innately corrupt. Then she'd grown up to use her ability for greater devastation than Cora had ever caused, further validating her belief that evil was who she was and all she'd ever be. "I guess I've never considered it in that way...but, the things I did during those years are still unforgivable, no matter what led me to it. I have to live with what I've done. I don't want to make excuses for myself."

"It isn't making excuses to understand how you got to that point, Regina. Redemption isn't just a few good deeds and done. It's understanding where you went wrong and consistently making the choice to become a better person. You need to curb that instinct to continue punishing yourself so that you can begin moving forward for you and your son."

She troubled her bottom lip between her teeth anxiously before she met his gaze again, "I don't know for how much longer he'll be _my_ son. At least not in anyone else's eyes. It's only a matter of time until Emma and Snow find their way back and Henry will forget about me again."

"How is your relationship now? Is David still allowing you to visit him?"

" _Hm_ ," she exhaled at the other enormous topic she needed to discuss, but was no longer sure she had the energy to. "Henry has come around to me for the time being. He actually suggested that he and his father stay at _our-_ at the mansion. David believes it's a good idea to provide Henry some stability while everything else is still so chaotic."

"So they've moved back in? That's good news, isn't it?" Hopper gave a hint of an encouraging smile.

" _Good_? David hates me," Regina rolled her eyes in a vain attempt to hide the way they began to glisten, "I am grateful to have Henry at home again, but I do not know how to act around David anymore, I-" she stopped and shook her head, quickly swiping the tear that rolled down her cheek.

"Have you ever considered telling him how you feel?"

"What?" she snapped and gave him a tired glare, "Okay, now _this_ is a waste of my time. For you to continually insinuate that I would actually have feelings for that man-"

"You don't?"

"Did you not hear the part where I said he hates me?!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Regina. You were together for a very long time. I'm sure he feels very betrayed and angry, but I don't think it as simple as hating you."

"I'm not listening to this. If you really think there would ever be a chance in hell that David would choose me over his _one true love_ , then you're the one that needs to see a shrink," she snarled hatefully, unable to even entertain the thought. The situation was already too painful and she couldn't allow herself believe anything might go the way she wanted it to.

"I understand it's very complicated. I'm just suggesting that you try expressing to David how you feel. Right now all he knows for certain is that he has been lied to and is likely unaware of your- ... _of how you feel._ I know you think there is no chance he won't go back to Snow, but if you are not honest with him he may not be aware that he has any other option."

"He doesn't. I have no use for an idiot shepherd," Regina shrugged and stood from the chair abruptly. She'd had all she could take for one day and the thought Archie just presented filled her with anxiety. She needed time alone to think about it, away from the cricket's pesky observational skills.

"I think we made tremendous progress today, Regina. Same time next week?" Archie questioned as she spun on her heels and began her march towards the door, refusing to look back.

"I doubt it."

* * *

David sat at Granny's diner, lost in thought as he stared at the empty booth in the corner. It had been a week since he and Henry began staying at the mansion and he'd been taking lunches at the diner to avoid unnecessary run-ins with Regina at home. They'd steered clear of each other for the most part, David using the town as an excuse to leave early in the mornings while she and Henry had breakfast. Dinner he could not avoid as easily, but she'd been oddly passive during those and they hadn't truly argued.

Regina was restless though, that much he could tell. Her job as Mayor kept her days busy for years and she seemed to be lost now that she no longer held the position. He'd caught her at different times appearing to be searching for something to keep her mind and hands busy, looking lost in thought. She'd be especially dismissive of him when he caught her in those moments and he knew it was because she did not like to be unsure of her purpose, let alone for him to be aware she was.

In all the years he'd lived with her she had been driven by an inner desire for their life to be perfect. She strived to be an efficient mayor, to keep up with their home life and to be the best mom to Henry that she could be. Her ability to succeed at all three made her a force to keep up with, but it had made him want to better himself. Everything she did seemed to come naturally and appeared effortless.

The only time he'd witness her struggle with something new was in bonding with Henry after the adoption, but that was only due to the pressure she put on herself to be the perfect mother. Even that hurdle was brief, for she and Henry became inseparable in no time once David convinced her to not be so hard on herself. Watching the care and attention she put into whatever she did was impressive and reminded him to never take her for granted. He felt incredibly lucky, knowing could've had anyone she wanted. It had always made him wonder why she chose him to spend her life with, but the question hadn't occurred due to her poor treatment of him. _In fact_ , it was quite the opposite.

Regina treated him like he'd hung the moon and stars. It made him feel ten feet tall and constantly amazed that he _somehow_ managed to make a woman of her caliber happy. He exhaled bitterly at the thought as he understood the answer to that question all too clearly now. She chose him for her own because he was a key pawn in her revenge. She'd kept him happy and treated him well so that he would not question their lives or feel compelled to look elsewhere for fulfillment. Like to the ' _ditzy teacher that gave him doe eyes'_ or the the ' _flirty waitress at the diner'_ who always seemed to make Regina irrationally jealous. He'd thought back then that her possessive reaction to other women giving him attention was due to her own insecurities, but now he realized it was from fear of her master lie unraveling.

It made him feel stupid to think of how oblivious he'd been, but what disturbed him the most now was that she had seemed so _happy_. The way she'd treated him felt entirely genuine and he never would've dreamed of questioning her devotion or love for him during those years. He'd known others found her intimidating and unapproachable, and with good reason as she was rather aloof with most. _But with he and Henry?_ She was kind and warm and playful and loving, more so behind closed doors, but even in public she would not hold back her affection for them. She would hold his hand as they entered Granny's and cuddle up to him in their corner booth. She would kiss Henry when she dropped him at school, disregarding his argument that it _wasn't cool_ with a good humored laugh. She always looked for David when entering a crowded room, glancing around with a hint of insecurity until she saw him and then would give that grin. It was filled with relief and excitement and flirtation and he'd only seen her give it to him in all of those years.

That grin had always boosted his ego to a ridiculous level and caused those around them to watch in adoration at the unlikely pairing that worked so well. People relaxed more in her presence when they saw the entirely human way she acted towards him and he always encouraged her to show that side of her, though never more than she was comfortable with. She was a private person and he respected that, but he had always wished others could appreciate her the way he and Henry knew to. So many of those moments when she gave onlookers a glimpse of what he _thought_ had been her true nature had happened in that very booth he avoided sitting in today. The corner booth he'd been unable to quit staring at while memories continued to overwhelm him.

_"We have to stop ordering these-" she proclaimed from beside of him in the booth, but did not hesitate to stab another cheese fry with her fork, humming in satisfaction after she took a bite._

_He grinned as he grabbed a fry for himself and watched her head snap to look at him when she caught him staring. "What? Why are you watching me eat?"_

_"I just don't think I've ever seen or heard you enjoy yourself more than when you're shoveling Granny's cheese fries," he teased, letting out a laugh at the way her brows arched in offense._

_"I do not 'shovel' anything, thank you very much. I'm a bit more refined," she rolled her eyes towards him with a prissy wave of her hand, but he didn't miss the smirk she tried holding back. "Besides, have you really never witnessed me enjoy myself more?"_

_"Hmm, come to think of it," he emphasized the word 'come' and bit down on his bottom lip as he playfully raked her with his gaze, "There are other times that I can think of."_

_"Oh?" she put her fork down and leaned in to him with a seductive smirk, running her hand over his thigh under the table, "You mean like when we chase the cheese fries with apple turnovers?"_

_"Madam Mayor," David let his lips part in mock surprise at her joke, glancing around as if to make sure no one heard, "Imagine what the good people of Storybrooke would think if they heard you talking dirty like that."_

_Regina let out a laugh that made his chest warm before she shook her head and schooled her expression to further play along with his innuendo, "If the good people have a problem with me sharing dessert with my husband then they'll just have to find a new town. I don't plan on giving it up any time soon," she gave a frank shrug, mischief sparkling in warm whiskey eyes._

_He grinned as a sliver of arousal shot through him, resting his arm on the booth behind her so he could lean in and speak down her ear, "They wouldn't say a word if they'd tasted your apple turnover like I have."_

_He heard her breath hitch as he lifted his head to look at her again, finding her eyes had darkened and a shamelessly lustful smile painted her lips when she replied, "Too bad I don't share my recipe."_

_He loved the way she always had a comeback, even when he managed to catch her off guard. She was quick witted and dirty minded and unapologetic for it. His cock twitched against the crotch of his jeans and he groaned a frustrated breath that they were not alone, making her laugh quietly as she understood his sentiment without him having to say a word._

_"Hmm, well, the fact that you only share it with me happens to be one of my favorite things about it-" he smirked, keeping his eyes glued to hers as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket to put down cash for the bill, "-knowing no one else gets to hear that little hum of yours makes it taste even sweeter."_

_Regina seemed to feel the same sense of urgency to get home that he did then, her lips relaxing from their cat like grin as they parted with a breathy exhale. Her eyes dropped from his and she looked at his lips for a long moment, reminding him that he needed to get them out of there before he could no longer walk through the diner without a noticeable bulge in his jeans._

_"Get your purse," he suggested but it came out as a demand and her eyes glistened with in response. She knew exactly what his tone meant and it was written all over her expression when she instantly reached behind her for her bag._

_"Will that be all or can I get the two of you a slice of somethin' sweet?" Granny's question startled them from their heated moment, their heads snapping up in attention as they gathered themselves._

_"No thank you," Regina gave a polite smile as she looked up at Granny and slid her purse straps up her arm, "We'll be having our dessert at home tonight."_

_"You sure? We've got cherry pie," Granny offered and David barely contained a laugh when he looked at Regina and saw her pointed gaze._

_He knew the irony was not lost on her by the way her lips threatened to curl in amusement, but he took her hint that she was desperate to end this encounter with Granny and be on their way. As was he._ _Still, he couldn't miss the opportunity and felt a pointy-toed kick to his shin before he'd barely finished his sentence, "Maybe next time. I've got a craving for my wife's apple turnover tonight."_

David glanced around the diner to make sure no one was looking his way when he felt heat creep up his neck at the memory of what followed getting home that night. Shoes and jackets had been discarded in the foyer as they'd stumbled into the living room in mutual understanding that they did not have the patience to make it upstairs. It had been before Henry, when they still had the freedom to devour each other in any room they wanted. _And that night they certainly had._

He'd gotten her naked in record time, her bare back arching from the coffee table where he knelt between her legs with his head tucked between her thighs. He exhaled sharply at the memory of her moans and the way her hips curled up towards his mouth while she tugged at his hair and cursed out loud. She'd tasted so good that he hadn't stopped, pushing her through orgasm after orgasm until finally she came with such force that she'd drenched his chin with her-

David cleared his throat suddenly and scanned the diner once more when he snapped back to reality again. His throat was suddenly parched and he reached for his glass of water, trying to focus on the task instead of the thoughts that had prompted his slightly strained situation under the table.

He found memories of his cursed life everywhere but he knew he had to quit indulging, especially now that he was living in such close proximity of Regina again. So he sat back in the booth and forced himself to think of Snow, letting out a breath of relief when the tension in his jeans slowly subsided. For his sanity he would ignore the fact that he had just used the thought of his real wife as a cold shower for his reaction to his cursed one.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All aboard for the angst express. I'm almost apologetic for this one...almost.
> 
> Chapter 10, in which nightmares are my greatest plot device...

Regina sat on her sofa and quietly watched the flames dancing in the fireplace, though her mind was anything but silent. She'd been in this spot for an undetermined amount of time now, fantasizing ways that she could torture that _stupid cricket_. If it weren't for her promise to Henry, she'd likely have squashed that nuisance of a bug by now. She _hated_ Archie for the thoughts he planted in her head during their last session and she desperately held onto directing her anger at him rather than unpacking it. Though much to her chagrin, reason started to overrule her anger and it was increasingly difficult to focus on hating the bug instead of addressing her feelings.

_"I know you think there is no chance he won't go back to Snow, but if you are not honest with him he may not be aware that he has any other option."_

Regina shut her so eyes tightly that it creased her brow as she tried to physically force Archie's words from her mind. It didn't work and she exhaled loudly when she reopened them and focused her gaze back on the fireplace with a frown. She couldn't wrap her head around where in the realms Hopper got the idea that Prince Charming could ever have feelings for the Evil Queen.

It made her question if he should be practicing in his field at all. Instilling this sense of false hope, encouraging such outrageous ideas - it was certainly a liability and she should look into having his medical license revoked. _She created it, after all._

The thought made her hum a bitter laugh in her throat at what an idiot she'd been to go to him in the first place. What did he really know, _anyways_? She was the one who gave him the degree and the profession. A profession she wasn't even sure she believed was legitimate.

Who needed to talk to a therapist in order to determine how they _felt_ about something? _The weak minded, that's who._ She could practically hear Cora speak the words down her ear while her gut reminded her of just how astute Archie's observations had been. He'd pointed out so many details of her past, her upbringing included, that she'd never taken a moment to consider as a factor in her self destruction. She'd spent her life with tunnel vision, channeling all of her energy into blaming a sole person for her pain.

Deep down she'd always known the source of her heartache was much more complex than one single person, but the darkness had consumed her and allowed her to defy that logic. It had been easier to target _one_ inferior Snow White rather than taking on _all_ of the monsters who had a hands-on role in breaking her. For years she'd avoided this truth until, as Archie pointed out, her time spent being loved during the curse had allowed her pesky conscious and empathy and _reasoning_ return to her.

Even now, with as angry as she was over the curse being broken and her heart along with it, she could no longer use her rage to avoid rational thought and do what she pleased. She _hated it_. Things were much easier when she had a target to blame. Someone to openly hate and channel her dark energy towards without consequence. Someone whose misery she could make a goal of.

Being able to empathize again, to understand more than just her _own_ point of view, had stolen the only form of self preservation she'd ever known. She could no longer simply channel the Evil Queen and take what she wanted without guilt or fear. Not when she could see the disappointment and disgust it caused in the eyes of the two people she loved more than anything.

_"I don't want to be like you."_

The way Henry had looked at her in that moment came to mind, bringing a fresh wave of tears as her stomach coiled with guilt and self loathing. That image alone destroyed her ability to revert back to her old self. It invaded her thoughts anytime she had been tempted to rain fire on the town and take Henry away like the darkness urged her to. Her son's opinion of her meant more to her than anything ever had and it kept her in line, stopping her from making the rash decisions she desperately wanted to lately.

_"What have you done to me?"_

The memory of David's rage-filled expression flashed behind her eyes next, making her grimace as she tried to swallow down the suffocating urge to sob that built in her chest. The sheer hatred in his eyes had been such a stark contrast to the love she'd gotten used to seeing there. Though it'd been nearly a month, the thought of him that day still felt like it knocked the breath out of her.

David had let her be caged. Had suggested they let the wraith have her. Had backed her against a wall with his hand on her neck. How could Archie believe David capable of feeling anything but hatred for her? She'd torn him from his true love, made him miss raising his daughter and cursed him into a life with her. The thought of what she'd done to him made her sick and she couldn't fathom how the shrink thought it would ever be possible for David to look past it.

Archie's suggestion to simply _tell him_ her true feelings was absurd. There was no world where she could ask Prince Charming to choose her over Snow White and not get laughed out of the room. She knew that was a reality she needed to accept, but the stupid bug had gotten inside of her head and as much as she did not to admit it, her behavior had already started to change around David.

Before they'd moved back in, Regina had been behaving herself in order to keep her promise to Henry and for David to continue to let her see him. Now that they were here, she found herself wanting to do more - to fall back into the role of wife and mother and remind them of how happy they were before. To remind them of who she was with them instead of who she was in her past.

In the week following that particular session with Archie, she'd already made more of an effort to avoid conflict with David. She ignored his sour moods and his barbs when they crossed paths, which he had made sure wasn't very often. He'd leave the house early and come in late, remain mostly quiet at dinner aside from speaking to Henry and would not engage with her unless necessary. When he did address her he avoided eye contact and often made remarks she knew were formulated to bait her, though she didn't bite. It was entirely foreign and extremely challenging to simply dismiss him instead of engage, but she had managed for the most part.

Henry had been much easier to find some sense of normalcy with. He'd even seemed concerned about how she was feeling and handling everything that had happened. She sometimes caught him looking at her with an inquisitive gaze and felt sure he had more questions for her that he hadn't figured out how to ask yet. It made her nervous to think of how she would explain things when he did ask for more details, but she tabled that for now.

Her son was certainly warmer with her and it had been an enormous source of comfort. Her only source, if she was honest with herself. Their relationship wasn't back to the close-knit one they shared before the storybook upended their lives, but it was certainly an improvement. He seemed to be realizing there was more to what the storybook contained and she remained hopeful that it would help her earn his forgiveness, or at the very least his understanding.

David, however, remained lost to her even though he lived under her roof once more. He was within arms reach but still miles away, almost like he had shut out her existence entirely so that he could function for their son. It hurt even though she understood and so she tried not to provoke him or give him any reminders of her past sins. She told herself it was to keep the peace for Henry's sake, but her heart knew otherwise.

It was stupid and pathetic to put any energy into trying to stop the inevitable outcome of David going back to Snow and yet she found herself subconsciously doing so in various ways. She'd curbed her dark instincts and refused to argue with him. She'd slipped back into taking care of them as she had before. She made their favorite home-cooked meals and did laundry and anticipated their needs, even though they'd never asked her to. Taking care of them was something she loved to do and deep down she hoped they'd take notice.

Archie's suggestion of telling David how she felt was impossible and she supposed she had been trying to show it instead. Maybe if she created some normalcy and familiarity of their life before the storybook he'd remember how good it had been. Maybe if she let her guard down a little he'd realize she had been her true self with him. Maybe he would find that their family was worth fighting for. Maybe he wouldn't discard her as soon as Snow returned...

She knew it was foolish to even entertain these thoughts, but there had been moments between them since the curse was broken that made heart want to give Archie's hypothesis merit. There had been looks exchanged and indecipherable statements and unnecessary arguments. Not to mention the way he'd questioned her on more than one occasion if anything had been real during the curse. When she let her mind get carried away and added up all of those factors it made hope creep up within her. Then the dread would turn her stomach, thinking of how severely this would break her when that hope was crushed.

Regina pulled the delicate chain holding Daniels ring from under the edge of her sweater, rolling it gently between her fingers. The chaos had kept her in constant turmoil and she'd had little time to truly grieve him again. Her last moments with him still haunted her, especially at night, and she'd woken up in cold sweats more than once.

The restless sleep had also welcomed _other_ nightmares back to her for the first time in decades and she'd been waking up terrified. Terrified and unable to run down the hall to the person she used to seek comfort in. It left her feeling tired and fragile and even more susceptible to the yearning thoughts she had now. David's comfort was the one thing that made her feel like everything would be okay, but it was no longer hers to have. _It never was._

* * *

Henry's scream jolted David from his sleep, causing him to sit up straight before he even knew what was happening. His son's second strangled yell had him propelling from the guest bed and running out of the room with a hand on the doorframe to help him turn for Henry's bedroom. He met Regina's wild-eyed gaze as she bolted from her room and they met in the middle with her making it into Henry's room and David directly behind her.

Henry was waking then, panting for breath as he sat up in his bed and looked around in panic. His expression flickered with relief at the sight of his parents scrambling towards his bed and Regina's hands were on him in an instant, pushing his damp hair from his face and checking his body for injuries.

"Henry, are you hurt? What happened?" She asked, trying to catch her own breath as she found his arms clear from burn marks.

"It's okay, we're here," David nodded and sat down on the opposite side of the bed that Regina had, reaching out to grip Henry's shoulder, "Was it the same dream?"

"Yeah," he nodded breathlessly as he looked between them, "But I couldn't tell who it was, and I woke up before I could they could speak to me."

"The same as last time?" David looked to Regina for confirmation after she'd been present for the last one when he'd woken with the burn mark.

"Yes," she exhaled slowly and tried to gather her thoughts after being sent into such a panic, "But you're not hurt anywhere?" she looked to Henry who nodded in response, "Then Gold's charm must be working."

"If it's working why is he still being tortured by these nightmares?" David's jaw clenched in frustration at how helpless he felt.

"It doesn't have the power to stop them, only to keep him safe-" Regina shook her head but remained staring intently at Henry to reassure herself he was all right, "Could you tell anything about the person? If it was the same person from the last dream?"

"I don't know, they were wearing a cape and they had their back to me. I think it was a woman but-" her son shook his head unsurely.

"Did it look like it could've been Snow or Emma?" David asked quickly, his eyes widening.

"He said he didn't know-" she cut her eyes towards him sharply but tried to keep her tone neutral.

"Someone is trying to send him a message, it makes sense-" David frowned back at her, eyes narrowing in suspicion briefly before he looked to Henry, "Did it look like it could be either of them?"

"I don't think so, I think it was a woman-" their son scrunched his face in an attempt to think clearly, "-but she had long dark hair, I think, but I don't know, there were flames between us and I was yelling and they mostly had their back to me."

"It's okay, just relax for now, alright?" Regina murmured and ran a hand over his hair before pulling him into an embrace, letting out a breath of relief when he didn't fight it but wrapped his arms around her waist. "You're safe."

"If you remember anything else let us know all right?" he nodded and ran his hand over Henry's arm once had Regina let go of him and he began lying down in his bed. David felt her give him a threatening look but he ignored her and leaned down to press a kiss to Henry's head, "Go back to sleep now. Everything's okay. I'm just across the hall and I have my door open so I can listen for you."

Henry nodded and looked between the two of them, his eyes heavy with exhaustion thanks to his fitful sleep and the nightmare. Regina reached up and brushed the side of his face with her thumb like she did when he was younger, smiling warmly at the way it had his eyes fluttering sleepily just like it did back then.

"We're right here, my prince. Go back to sleep," she murmured with a reassuring nod and watched his eyes close, keeping up her stroking of his hairline for a few minutes until his breathing had slowed down and he appeared to have drifted back to sleep.

She felt David's eyes glued to her as she watched Henry sleep for a few minutes before she felt satisfied enough to stand slowly from the bed. She refused to look his way but caught him following in her peripheral vision as she made her way out of Henry's room.

David watched her turn to go back to her own room without so much as a glance back at him, prompting him to follow her down the hall. Her dark expression warned him away as he crossed the threshold to their old room and saw that he was intent on the intrusion, but his steps didn't falter.

"Can I help you?"

"I think we should talk, don't you?"

"About what, David?" she grit out, jaw twitching when she turned to see him closing the door almost shut so their voices wouldn't travel down the hall.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that someone's trying to speak to our son through nightmares?" he smiled sarcastically and shook his head in annoyance, "Or are you content with ignoring the topic knowing who might be trying to reach him?"

She let out a mirthless chuckle and crossed her arms, "If you're accusing me of something, just say it."

"Well, I do think it's convenient how you have no interest in trying to find out who it is," he stared at her intently, his insides churning, "Unless it's because you know it's my wife or daughter."

"How would I know that?" She asked, but her tone was tired instead of angry like he had expected and she let her eyes close briefly, "Even Rumple could not tell us who it was. Until Henry can see them we won't know."

"So there's not some kind of magic you can do to find out?" he motioned towards her as he continued to question her. "Any other time you'd move mountains to find out what was ailing your son and now you're just content with seeing what happens?!"

"You don't think I want to stop it?!" She finally snapped, unable to curb herself any longer at his interrogation. His accusation that she would stand by and let Henry suffer while she knowingly could fix it made her anger and hurt skyrocket once more. "I would never sit by and let my son be harmed. Even if it was your wife and daughter trying to get through, I would fix it if I could to keep him safe. Even if it meant them coming back and me losing Henry all over again!"

David pressed his lips together firmly and stared back at her in contemplation. His first suspicion was that she knew more about Henry's dreams than she'd let on and was refraining, but now it seemed stupid. It made him feel guilty to consider that she might be letting Henry go through this for her own plotting means, but then again, it's what she had done during the curse unraveling. She'd let their son think he was crazy and even sent him to Archie for therapy in order to keep things intact for as long as she could.

"You have to admit that, at least historically speaking, it's not outside the realm of possibilities, Regina," he frowned and looked away from her, not being able to face the hurt that shone through her eyes past the anger.

"Well, I hate to inform you that you are mistaken. I know it's much easier for you to blame me at every turn, but I made a promise to Henry that I would redeem myself for him," Regina swallowed the burning sensation in her throat and hardened her expression, "And I intend to keep my end of the bargain. That includes never deceiving him again and no longer standing in the way of what he wants, and he's made it clear on several occasions that he wants your precious wife and daughter to return. So, I will help make that happen should a way to do so arise. _For Henry_. Rest assured, David, I'm not keeping you from any knowledge of their whereabouts."

"You'd help us bring them back?" he asked, guilt gnawing at his stomach when he watched her shift on her bare feet, appearing so small before him with no makeup or heels or power suit. She just looked like _his Regina_ and it made his heart ache with longing and his head pound with frustration as the conflicting feelings tore through him.

"You've heard everything Henry's said about me-" Regina's brows furrowed with a deep frown in an attempt to stone her expression, but her voice shook and she paused to regain control of it, "I'm the _Evil Queen_ to him, not his mother. He doesn't even think me capable of love-" her breath hitched and her eyes shifted to the floor, "I've merely been a distraction for him, something familiar to comfort him while Snow and Emma are gone."

"That's..." he found himself disagreeing with her a bit too avidly for his liking, pausing to rein in his reaction. "That's not true."

"It isn't?" she scoffed humorlessly and looked up at him with glistening eyes, "I lied to him. I broke his trust. His mother, the person who should be the last to ever hurt him, _I_ did that and those scars don't go away over night. Once Emma gets back he's going to have a mother who hasn't betrayed him, a mother who is a hero and someone he can look up to and love without shame."

"Henry loves you, Regina," David's jaw clenched and he held himself back from stepping forward and pulling her into his embrace. "He does. Otherwise he wouldn't of asked us to keep you safe when the curse broke."

"He loves who he thought I was. He doesn't accept who I actually am-" she shook her head and refused to meet his gaze before murmuring, "-who I'll always be. The Evil Queen."

"Regina this is our-" he began before correcting himself, clearing his throat at the knot forming in it, "-this is his home. You've been his mother for ten years. Yeah Snow and Emma coming would make Henry will be ecstatic, but it doesn't change who you are to him."

"It will."

"If you believe that then why are you going to the trouble of redeeming yourself for him? I know you must've considered using magic and taking Henry away by now but you haven't. Why go through all of this if you think you're going to lose him?"

"Because either way...whatever he chooses-" her voice wavered with emotion as she swiped a tear from her face, "-I want to keep my promise. I want to prove to him that I'm not just who everyone says I am, even if he chooses not to be a part of my life. If I can prove that I am redeemable then maybe he won't be as ashamed to have once called me his mother."

David's chest ached and his stomach sank at her confession. The part of his cursed mind that still harbored feelings for her screamed at him to comfort her and yet he couldn't bring himself to move. If he caved emotionally then who knows where it would lead? He couldn't, in good conscious, comfort the woman who had separated him from his wife and daughter. Who had torn apart their lives. Still she looked broken and it kept his feet planted, staring at her quietly as he warred within himself.

"You should go to bed," Regina suggested, seeing the torment in his gaze and sensing he felt obligated to comfort her because it was his nature. He was simply _good_ and the least she could do was free him of any sense of duty he felt to her. He was innocent in all of this, after all.

David watched her turn her back to go towards their bed. _His_ side of the bed, where she'd clearly still been sleeping. Her verbal dismissal of him seemed like such the opposite of her body language, but then she glanced back at him with a cold stare when he didn't leave. He nodded once in response to it, reminding himself to accept the situation for what it was instead of what his confused heart wanted it to be. And then he left.

* * *

David took slow steps down the stairs on his way to the kitchen for a glass of water, still half asleep after waking up in the night parched. He registered a light left on in the living room when he reached the foyer and shuffled in that direction to turn it off out of habit. A mumbled voice startled him as he made his way in and reached for the lamp switch, causing him to freeze as he took a quick sweep of the dimly lit living room for the source. His eyes found Regina's sleeping form curled on the couch and he exhaled slowly in relief.

He remained still as he contemplated if he should wake her to go up to bed and he frowned when he heard her make another noise that sounded rather distressed. In all the years they'd lived together he'd never known her to fall asleep downstairs and the sight alone bewildered his sleep addled brain. It was when she made another frightened sound followed by _'Daniel'_ that he found himself quickly walking across the living room to wake her.

"Regina," David spoke softly as he reached down without hesitation, putting his hand on her shoulder to gently shake her awake, "-you should go up to-"

He was cut off my a strangled yelp when her eyes shot open and she scrambled to sit up, pressing her back into the couch like a cornered animal recoiling from his touch. Her eyes were wild with fear and he noticed then that her chest heaved and her skin was sweaty, telling him she'd been experiencing the nightmare for a solid amount of time.

"Hey, it's David, it's me-" he said quickly as he saw her stare up at him in shock and fear as her brain slowly processed that she was awake and safe, unlike wherever she'd been in the dream.

"Oh-" she replied with a hoarse voice when seemed to recognize him and attempted to hide her panting with a deep exhale. Her gaze dropped to her lap as she ran a hand up to push the damp hair from her face. "I, uhm, must've fallen asleep-"

David studied her for a moment, seeing the way her hands trembled despite the way she tried to keep them moving to hide it. She looked pale and shaken and he couldn't bring himself to walk away so he found himself sitting on the edge of the coffee table in front of her. "Nightmares again? You haven't had them in so long."

Her head snapped up to look at him and she visibly swallowed at the casual question. In the beginning of the curse she'd still suffered from nightmares of her mother and Leopold's abuse, often waking him with her thrashing or sudden noises. It felt strange that he'd remember, but then again why wouldn't he? He had been the one who held and calmed her through it all. It was his presence that had made her feel safe for the first time in her life.

"They seem to be the theme around here don't they?" she mumbled dryly in reference to Henry's incident, deflecting her vulnerability with humor in true Regina fashion.

"Have you been sleeping at all?" he asked, his vision adjusting to the light enough to see the dark circles under her eyes when she finally looked up from her lap.

"Here and there," she admitted quietly before averting her gaze from his once more.

"Have you been having these nightmares ever since that day in the stables?" David questioned gently and watched for her reaction. He'd blocked the memories of that day up to this point, not wanting to think about what Daniel had said to him. As a result he had turned a blind eye to her grief and now remorse twisted at his insides.

"How did you know it was about Daniel?" her brows furrowed.

"You mumbled his name right before I woke you," he gave a slow nod, his own confusion marring his features, "You remember?"

"Why wouldn't I?" she exhaled shakily, still trying to steady her breathing though his intent stare did nothing to help.

"You always said back then that you didn't remember what your nightmares were about when you woke up," he let his forearms rest on his knees as he watched her dark eyes shift back to look at him, "Were those about Daniel as well?"

"Amongst other things," she admitted, feeling raw now that her nerves were fried. She didn't have it in her to avoid questions or come up with lies to hide behind tonight.

"You almost just had a panic attack-" he studied her with more concern, hating that he'd caught her in this moment. It once again blurred his logic and made him want to hold and reassure her until she didn't look so lost and scared. "-they were never that powerful before."

"You were there to wake me before they got to that point," she replied honestly and her eyes darted to her lap once more, not wanting him to think she was asking for comfort.

 _'She loves you.'_ Daniel's statement echoed in David's mind. Memories of holding her until she calmed and fell back asleep flooded him, making it harder to stifle the urge.

"We should go to bed," he said quietly, his brain screaming at him to get them out of this situation before he caved.

"I-I think I'll just stay here for a bit-" she replied and began to untangle the blanket from her legs, giving her reason to avoid looking back at him.

He heard the way her voice still faltered and watched the way her hands still trembled slightly and his heart slowly began to drown out his logic. All he saw was _his Regina_ , shaking from nightmares that hadn't plagued her in decades. He realized then that they'd happened at the beginning of the curse, thinking back on how she'd seemed reluctant to let her hold him at first. He hadn't noticed it then and eventually she had begun to burrow into him the second he woke her and opened his arms.

It struck him that she'd been truly vulnerable with him back then, just as she was being now. She wasn't the fearless _Evil Queen_ in this moment and it made him wonder if she ever _truly_ was. The woman in front of him was incredibly human and crippled by a past he didn't fully understand. There was more to her that he wasn't aware of and it was reflected back at him in those haunted dark eyes. Those expressive eyes that allowed himself to stop thinking and just _act_.

"What are you doing?" her voice was startled when he moved forward from the coffee table and turned his body, sitting down on the couch beside of her.

"I'm sitting with you," he replied softly, watching her eyes growing wider as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. She went rigid under his touch for a few moments, but he brought his other arm around her to hold her securely.

Regina's body began to relax after the initial shock, her heart thumping wildly at being so close to him again. He felt like warmth and love and so, so safe. He'd taken her off guard with the sudden comfort, zapping the last bit of mental energy she had left, and so she sank into him further, giving in completely when she felt his chin rest in her hair. She couldn't think about it. She couldn't talk herself out of it. She had no self control, not when she'd craved this so badly.

David felt his throat constrict as he let his head rest back against the couch, blinking away the emotion that rushed through him. He had missed her _so_ much. He'd been in such turmoil since the curse was broken and having her in his arms was overwhelming. It was a comfort he hadn't known he'd needed so desperately. It felt like _home_.

A tear slid down his cheek at the combination of relief and defeat flooding him. His eyes shifted down at her dark hair as she nuzzled the top of her head into his neck and brought a hand up against his chest. He kept his arms locked around her, giving her a gentle squeeze when he heard her own quiet whimper and sharp inhale. David tried to tell himself that it was her nightmare and her anxiety over losing Henry and her grief over Daniel that had her upset...but deep down he felt it. He felt that familiar connection with her and he knew, in this moment, it was _real_.


End file.
